


Out of His Element

by klein (uaigneach)



Series: After The Assassination [5]
Category: Assassination Classroom, Ghost Hunt
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Case Fic, Demon/Human Relationships, Demons, M/M, Multi, Retcon Timeline, Retelling, hahaha I love that that tag is a thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 210,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22803796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uaigneach/pseuds/klein
Summary: After dealing with all the shit life had to throw at him, Karma finally starts university. Unfortunately, things can never be easy, and campus turns out to be haunted and he has to work for an arrogant ass.Before he even knows it, he's no neck deep into the drama and mystery surrounding Shibuya Kazuya and his ghost hunting company, SPR.
Relationships: Shibuya Kazuya/Akabane Karma
Series: After The Assassination [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/399604
Comments: 37
Kudos: 76





	1. File 1 - Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> So... I know that I've been super... absent. I started university ans I was quickly overwhelmed by life and writer's block. I will be finishing the Ouran installment and hopefully I will still be writing the Harry Potter installment since I know that at least one person wanted it other than me - although that one might be a bit shorter than the other ones in this series - but I wanted to get this one out since I wrote it well over a year or two ago. It is the 5th big story part in the series and it is complete.
> 
> Thank you for your patience.

[April]

[Thursday]

It all started with one big stupid misunderstanding that I was reluctant to clear up. I don’t really know _what_ I was thinking, but I decided to stay after school and tell some ‘ghost stories’ with two of my new self-proclaimed ‘friends’.

You see, I’d been going to university for a couple months now, and since I’d gone with not being an absolute asshole (I sort of just didn’t talk to anyone unless they talked first, and if that happened, then yes I was a bit of an asshole but that’s just who I am) so I was a bit more approachable. I was majoring in business with a double minor in psychology and parapsychology. Business because I _did_ confess to my class that I wanted to rule the corporate world at one point, and I was technically running my own business at the moment. Or err, multiple businesses. It always helped to have more knowledge too. I was a genius, but I’m sure that there are things I haven’t come across yet.

So, business knowledge would be both useful, and something that I can generally be my cut throat self in. I do so love destroying people, so taking down other people’s businesses was always exciting. And with my previous inclination to it – thanks to Kyoya’s excellent teachings – I thought it would be best to major at something I was good at.

And as previously stated I love pissing people off. Hence, psychology. Find out how the mind works and then I can manipulate people easier. I know your basic body language, but not the every day normal people stuff. I can always improve my social knowledge. Every piece of information was valuable to have. You never know when you might need it.

And that leaves us with the minor in parapsychology. Ghosts and psychic research. The real exciting stuff – not. I mean, technically it would be more interesting than my other two areas of study, but it was the one area of supernatural knowledge I wasn’t all that familiar with. Most of the other things fell under creatures of Gehenna, so I knew enough about them after studying my butt off and being awarded with the rank of paladin–

(speaking of that, being paladin had surprisingly little responsibility involved? I literally just had to show up if they ever had a crisis that Father Fujimoto couldn’t or didn’t know how to handle. Father Fujimoto just handled all the main duties, which also weren’t all that much. It was more that he consulted and helped new exorcists. The Vatican didn’t like who they considered to be the strongest exorcists getting all that much involved. Something about a power imbalance or whatever)

–but I had very little knowledge about the paranormal and spirits. The closest I got to that area in my life was that stupid Jikininki back at True Cross. But even that had devolved quickly into more demonic territory, so we were able to handle it. But basic hauntings and psychic powers? That was in the unknown for me, so obviously I wanted to rectify that.

Unfortunately for me, the only in class thing that was offered in Japan was a beginner’s lesson that most students ended up taking as a joke. We didn’t really learn much about anything in that class, and it was more just a chance to share creepy stories about the school’s history and conspiracy theories. But if I finished the semester and still wanted to learn more, the school would then set me up with online classes from Cambridge where some of the most renowned psychic researches taught. Obviously, I was just going to have to stick out this sham of a class if I wanted to know what was going on in the paranormal world.

But that stupid class is how I met two of my… friends. Their names were Keiko, Michiru, and Takehashi. Takehashi was dating Keiko, and all three of them were your stereotypical believers of the paranormal. Essentially, they heard a spooky noise and then they screamed ‘ghost’. It was almost comical, obviously none of these people had actually seen ghosts.

But they’d invited me to join them in their daily story telling, and since I didn’t want to be rude – hey it happens! I’m just used to trying to act a bit more polite from my time at Ouran – I didn’t say no. Apparently there was some ‘true stories’ about the school building that was abandoned that I ‘simply must know’.

I was sure that they were all true.

You can see the sarcasm, right?

I thought that it wouldn’t be all that harmful, in the event that some of these stories were actually true, I could learn more about the school. The truth was, I hadn’t even chosen this school, Nagisa had just taken a look at my grades and conspired with Kayano to pick a school for me. At least they let me pick what I was studying. Seriously, the duo mothered me way too much ever since…. Since True Cross. I couldn’t really blame them for being cautious, but I was fine. They didn’t need to worry so much.

So here I am, sitting in the empty auditorium where the parapsychology class was held with the trio after school hours. I can already tell that this would end well. Takehashi had turned off the lights and handed me a small light stick. We all turned them on and looked to each other, the three with eagerness and myself with confusion. What were we doing?

When I voiced my question out loud, Michiru rolled her eyes but explained. “We’re all going to tell a story, and every time we finish a story, we turn out a light. Once all of us are done, we count, each one of us saying a number. After that, there’s supposed to be an extra person in the room.” She explained, I frowned, not quite getting why we were doing this, but okay then.

The stories that they told were rather juvenile. People being pushed down the stairs by a mysterious force and a woman being covered in blood after answering a mysterious voice asking her if she wanted a red jacket. At the end, Takehashi and I still had our lights on. The three turned to me expectantly (because clearly it was my turn), waiting eagerly for my ghost story, but I honestly didn’t know what I was supposed to say. I decided to just spew some bullshit on the spot.

“And as we entered the room something dripped onto the ceiling down onto my face. It was blood!” I said, using my spooky voice that always freaked out everyone when I used it back in Class E. As expected, the girls jumped back in horror, and even Takehashi looked uneasy. Then I smirked and clicked off my light. That left only Takehashi’s story left. He looked down at the light in his hand before speaking to me.

“Alright, this one is about the old school house.” He began, only to get cut off by Keiko.

“You mean that creepy old building down the street that’s collapsing?” she asked, looking up at her boyfriend in confusion. He nodded and continued speaking.

“But it’s not collapsing,” he said in a somber tone. “It was being demolished when all of the workers suddenly quit because of a curse. Lots of people have died in that school house over the years with the most famous being a teacher who committed suicide.” He explained, leaning forward as he got into the story. “So, when they decided to build the new school building – you know, the new drama wing we were promised 3 years ago – they had to tear down the old building. But then the demolition ended when a part of the building broke down and killed a worker. Last year, they started up the demolition again when a truck driving by lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a crowd of students, killing some of them.”

I frowned as I tried to remember reading any reports on that. You’d think it would’ve made the news, but honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it simply hadn’t pinged on my radar. This all seemed like a bad coincidence. “But there’s more! I heard about this from an upper-class men,” he continued, “one night, a student was walking by the school when they saw a glowing figure in one of the windows.” He stopped talking, clicking of his light with an audible snap. They tensed, before looking at me, as if to urge me to do something. “Well here goes,” Takehashi said uneasily. I took that as my cue.

“1” I said, confident that nothing would happen. This was all just some stupid joke.

“2”

“3”

“4”

…

“5”

Almost immediately Keiko and Michiru screamed while Takehashi jumped at the intrusion. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise to stand on end, but I didn’t react like the others. Instead I calmly turned around just as the lights flickered on once more as whoever the newcomer was flipped the switch. In the doorway stood a teen dressed in an all black suit, quite the contrast compared to our casual clothes. He looked young, maybe a year or two older than me if I were to guess.

He looked to be of Japanese descent, but he had navy blue eyes, which showed that he had some foreign blood in him. I mean, I wasn’t one to talk, what with my natural red hair and golden eyes. I didn’t exactly look Japanese either. His hand fell from the light switch as he stared at us with an impassive face.

“Please tell me that was you just now…” Keiko said, placing a hand over her heart as she tried to recover from her shock. Michiru wasn’t much better.

The mystery guy cocked his head to the side. “Am I interrupting?” he asked, his voice in a calm low monotone.

Takehashi let out a sigh of relief. “Woah, I thought for sure it was a ghost.” He said, collapsing into the seat behind him. But I wasn’t paying all that much attention to him, it was the new guy that had my full attention.

“I’m sorry, I thought for sure no one was going to be here. But then I heard your voices and I couldn’t help myself.” He said, stepping forward into the room, a serene smile making its way to his lips. He suddenly had a more charming air about him although… his eyes remained cold and calculating. He was using his looks as a mask. But for what I don’t quite know. His smile didn’t reach his eyes.

And there was something… familiar about him. I’d seen him somewhere before, but I don’t know where. It wasn’t like me to forget something like this.

“Oh no! That’s perfectly fine!” Michiru said brightly before she rushed over to the boy. “What year are you?” she asked bouncing excitedly. All traces of fear were gone at the sight of a hot guy. Why was I surprised? Michiru seemed like the type of girl who was pretty superficial. It wasn’t like she wasn’t a nice girl, but she also had a problem where she went through boyfriends like she did make up. At least from what I’ve heard from Keiko and Takehashi.

“I’ll be 17 this year.” He said, softly, his serene smile never wavering. Normally someone would just say that they were a freshman. This was rather odd, for him to say his age first. I mean, we’ve always just said our year in school. Even when I skipped second year of high school. I didn’t bother letting people know that I was a year younger. It made things easier if I just said I was a third year. Less whiny rich brats. Considering this was a good school, getting out of high school and going here while only being 17 was something impressive. Heck, all three of my new friends were all in second year and 20. Takehashi took a year off for work, but the other two didn’t do all that well with their grades and got held back.

“We were just telling ghost stories.” Takehashi said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

The boy looked over at him. “Well maybe I can join you guys sometime.”

“Wow! Do you mean you like telling ghost stories too?” yelled Michiru excitedly as she batted her eyes flirtatiously. He nodded in confirmation causing Michiru to squeal and giggle like an idiot. “You sound like a really cool guy! What’s your name?”

“My name is Kazuya.” He said, glancing up from Michiru to take all of us in. His eyes briefly rested on Takehashi and Keiko before moving to me. His eyes met mine and stayed there longer. But I couldn’t help but notice that no matter how collected and friendly he appeared to the others, his eyes were still not smiling.

“Okay Kazuya, I have one question.” I said, standing up and slinging my bag over my shoulder. “Why are you here?” I challenge, ignoring the glare that Michiru was sending me. I wanted to see where this was going. My face was carefully fixed into an unimpressed look, and the others froze. They hadn’t yet seen this side of me. Being cold just wasn’t how I liked to play things anymore. True Cross taught me that. I quirked an eyebrow at him, my gold eyes glinting in the light.

“There are some things I need to take care of.” He says, turning from Michiru and walking away.

“Then what are you waiting for?” I ask casually. Michiru squeals and immediately follows him, forcing the rest of us to go with her considering we – meaning I – didn’t exactly trust him. He looked too familiar, something wasn’t right about him. I never met the most ordinary people, so it was only sensible that I was suspicious.

“Do you need our help for anything?” Michiru asked, really going to the extra mile to bother the teen. I like how she said ‘our’ though, like we were obviously all included in her offer to aid.

“No,” he said kindly, “but I would love to be invited to join you guys when you next tell your ghost stories.”

Surprisingly, it was Takehashi that invited him. “Sure! You’re more than welcome to join us. Our group just seems to be growing, Karma here is new too. How about tomorrow, after school?” he asked, gripping Keiko’s hand as he shifted in his spot. He was obviously slightly uncomfortable with the attractive teen joining us, but he knew that Michiru was already infatuated with him.

“Okay, but where?” His tone was snarkier than I expected. His smile was no longer serene and more smug. He was up to something, and he was definitely aware of the cautious gaze I was watching him with. Something’s fishy about him, his eyes are so sharp and calculating. Definitely not a normal teenager. I better get to the bottom of this.

* * *

[Friday]

I walk down the streets near the university just enjoying the current weather. Spring in Japan was beautiful, especially with all the cherry blossom trees in the area blooming right now. I’m glad I was able to leave early so that I can enjoy the outdoors for a little longer. I’d have to bring my notebook to do a sketch tomorrow. Maybe some watercolour. I can already see what I want to do. If I arrive around this time tomorrow when there’s no classes, I’m sure I’ll have this little walk way to myself.

(There’s a small part of me that feels a bit of melancholy at the sight of the flowers. I was vaguely reminded of the only funeral that I’d ever planned, and the first person that I’d lost on a mission in front of me. I’d have to call Izumo later… just to check up on her. For now…

I didn’t want to think of Paku.)

“I have all the cherry blossoms to myself!” I hear a distinctly feminine voice say and I look up from the trees to see another fellow freshman skipping down the road. She was unaware of my presence. I believe she was Mai Taniyama, a bright girl with a lot of passion, but no common sense and average grades. She wasn’t stupid, although she was incredibly naïve.

She paused suddenly, staring at the old school building, a lost look evident on her face even from the distance at which I was watching her. For a moment, I thought she was going to move on, but then she began walking towards the building. Taniyama was clumsy on a good day, going near a building that was half demolished was just a recipe for disaster, so I began to follow her. Worst case scenario I could save the girl. She had a deal with the head master so that she could go to school while paying minimal fees; she couldn’t afford to get into trouble.

As we got closer to the building, the more my sense began to warn me. I didn’t like this building, but that might just be from how unsafe that it was. Although, the longer I stare at it, the more I begin to believe the stories that I’ve heard. It really wouldn’t surprise me if a teacher actually killed themselves here. The atmosphere was certainly right for it.

Taniyama peered into the window for a moment, obviously seeing something peculiar. She gingerly opened the door, wincing at the creak it made. “A camera…?” she muttered in confusion. I frown, that wasn’t right. There shouldn’t be cameras in a building like this anymore. It was a waste considering they were still planning on tearing it down. Either way, the stupid girl was just walking into trouble. “But what’s it doing here? I thought this place was abandoned. It just doesn’t make sense that someone would just leave it here.” The girl continued to mumble to herself, reaching for the camera.

I was standing back, in the building, but definitely hidden by the shadows despite my hair. Suddenly a stern voice called out from somewhere. “Who’s there?” it demanded, scaring the shit out of Taniyama. In her shock, she accidentally jumped backwards, knocking a book shelf out of balance. It wavered quite dangerously as Mai turned to face the voice.

“I’m sorry I’ll just leave now.” She said, her voice wavering from a combination of fear and anxiety. She didn’t notice the shelf teetering dangerously behind her, but I did, and so did the stranger who the voice belonged to. “Oh no! Help!” she called. A man came running out from nowhere, he was tall, but things were happening so fast that I didn’t get the chance to get a better look at him. Both the camera and Mai would soon be crushed, and the stranger wouldn’t get there in time. Without thinking, I moved the camera out of the way, and then rushed to shove Taniyama over to. I got there just in time, without damaging the camera or Mai.

Unfortunately, the stranger wasn’t as fortunate, because the building then began to shake, causing another bookshelf to fall over and onto him. He definitely wouldn’t have made it over in time. The dust settled for a moment, and when it did, I struggled to see the rest of the room. Taniyama stood in the center, completely unharmed beside an equally unaffected camera that was probably still recording the entire incident. Great.

I had been hit by Mai’s bookshelf in all the chaos, but due to my hardiness from being half demon, I wasn’t injured with more than a few scrapes here and there. Looking over at the man however, found that he wasn’t any where near as fortunate as we were. He’d been hit with another bookshelf that was still resting on his ankle. He was laying face down on the ground, and from here I couldn’t tell just how injured he was. Taniyama jumped forwards to kneel beside the down man.

“Hey mister! Are you okay?” she asked, her voice shaking as she visibly struggled to hold in tears. She didn’t even know this man. He groaned but didn’t respond. The girl looked around confused, seemingly forgetting my presence entirely. “I’ll go get help!” she announced before dashing out of the building, leaving both me and the stranger semi-trapped under the wood. I shoved some of it off of me, careful not to dump any of it on the stranger or disrupt the very expensive looking camera.

Just a moment after Taniyama dashed out of the building did another figure appear. Since I doubt ‘help’ wouldn’t arrive that fast, I assume that it was someone else. “What is going on here?” a voice demands. I knew that voice. Glancing up, I see that it is the boy that interrupted our ghost stories yesterday. I can make out his features even in the dim light due to my enhanced vision. Although, dust was still settling in the room, this building was old after all.

He immediately strode over, bending down beside the downed man. “Lin,” he said softly, “what happened?” The man – Lin – struggled to sit up, and with that movement dislodged some debris from his leg to reveal that blood. “You’re bleeding, can you stand?” Kazuya continued, moving to help Lin stand up.

“There was a girl, she came in here and he startled her. She knocked over a bookshelf but then the entire building began to shake, knocking over the one that hit him.” I speak up, finally digging myself out from under my own prison on debris. I pick splinters out of my uniform almost absentmindedly. I didn’t give up Mai’s identity. I didn’t know why, but I felt that this man was more than he appeared. Taniyama wouldn’t be appropriately cautious. Not like I would.

Besides, he was a mystery, and I needed to know why he bothered me so much.

There was just something off about him, like in his aura or something…

“Never mind about that,” Kazuya’s strict voice brought me out of my thoughts. “Is there a doctor nearby?” I nod.

“Yes, just down the street. The girl left to get help just before you arrived.” I said, standing up and making my way over to offer aid. Lin frowned at me, not taking the offered hand, instead staring at my own revealed skin. I blatantly realize that I am bleeding a bit as well.

“No thanks, you and that girl have done enough as it is. Besides, you don’t look so well either. I wouldn’t want to get more injured.” Lin’s voice was deeper than Kazuya’s and held a slight accent that I believe was Chinese. He glared and his voice was filled with hatred. Hatred, which was completely unwarranted because I actually did nothing this time? Seriously, I saved that stupid camera _and_ got hit with the book shelf. This one was totally not on me. Lin struggled, but eventually he also got up, albeit a bit slower than I did.

He was leaning heavily on Kazuya as he held his head. Kazuya turned to me. “We met yesterday, right?” he snapped, holding Lin up by his arm. “What’s your name? I believe one of the others called you Karma?” I nodded, shuffling slightly as I examined my own bleeding arms.

“Yes, I’m Akabane Karma.”

“Alright than Karma,” he says snidely, completely bypassing all formalities and calling me by my first name. “I just thought you’d want to know that you’ll be late for your first class. The clock just went.” I growl, grabbing my bag and moving past him.

“Kuso!” I curse as I begin running, completely forgetting about my minor injuries as I book it. Maybe my teacher won’t be mad at me because I’ve never been late before. Well, university is a bit easier going than high school, so maybe I’ll be okay.

I risk one last look backwards at the building before continuing my mad dash for my first class. I didn’t want to go back to that stupid building again. I didn’t like idea, and hopefully I wouldn’t have to. Usually my instincts were correct.

* * *

I was cornered at the end of class by Keiko and Michiru. “Are you leaving already, Karma?” Keiko whined. “We were going to tell ghost stories with that cute guy remember?” she pouted. I rolled my eyes, of course she was also interested despite being happy with Takehashi. Something about being able to look at the menu as long as she didn’t order off of it.

“Not me.” I deny, shoving my books into my bag, eager to get back to my apartment. I wanted to finish up an essay before relaxing and looking over my scrapes. My sleeves had hidden it so far, but I didn’t fancy bleeding on it anymore than I had to. Blood stains were quickly becoming a pain to get out of clothing.

“Come on, Karma. Please? This is Michiru’s chance to tell ghost stories with a smart kid.” I deadpan at Keiko. How quickly she forgot that I was a genius. But oh well, I could tell what she really meant. This was Michiru’s chance to get with the mysterious dark and broody Kazuya. Yeah, I really didn’t want to get involved in _that_. So much relationship drama for only one girl to have.

“Did you say ghost stories? Is that what you and the new kid have been doing after school everyday?” A haughty voice asked scandalized. Turning to the door I see another girl named Kuroda. She was as unpleasant as they come, and everyone considered her an attention whore. She thought herself better than everyone else in the parapsychology class just because she was apparently ‘psychic’ and had been seeing spirits since she was a kid.

I had no idea why she was appearing out of nowhere now, but it was probably just to get more attention. “Well no wonder I’ve had this headache for so long!” she says haughtily as she rubs her temple dramatically. Who does she think she’s fooling? “I’m very attuned to spirits. Whenever they gather in large groups I get headaches.” She insists.

I raise an eyebrow at her, very unimpressed with the second year’s ‘sob story’. “So, you’re… blaming us for that?” I ask incredulously. Never before in any of the books I’ve read has it said anything of the sort. If there were really that many spirits here, then she would have been passed out if she was anywhere near as powerful as she was portraying herself to be. Young mediums often got overwhelmed by the presence of spirits, or so I’ve heard.

Then again, Kuroda’s psychic powers could have stabilized by now. Although if she was still getting headaches it was quite unlikely.

“Of course, I am.” She glares, “whenever you tell one of your little ghost stories you attract low level spirits and they attract stronger spirits.” She explained, trying to sound smarter than she actually was. I honestly don’t believe her for a second. Plenty of people tell ghost stories, and yet paranormal phenomena is very rare. “And then we’re in big trouble! So, while you entertain yourselves with these foolish stories, you’re putting me at risk!”

Okay wait. No. There are plenty of students here, and no doubt some of them are also psychic to some degree. Heck, I was half demon, and I’m likely to either attract the attention of spirits or ward them away. Either way, someone who was most likely as low level as Kuroda was probably wouldn’t even be a blip. Claiming she was in danger was foolish. Everyone is in danger almost constantly. She should have learned something defensive by now.

I mean I already knew about 3 exorcisms that would work on both demons and spirits. Or so Karasuma-sensei claimed. He made sure that I was prepared for anything I could face. He was a good teacher.

“So tell me,” a voice comes out of nowhere (this has been happening an awful lot lately), drawing all of our attentions to the doorway of the classroom. There stood Kazuya. “If you’re sensitive to spirits like you claim, then do you sense anything at the old school house?” he challenged, the smug smirk still on his face. What was he doing here?

Although, I was still kind of grateful that someone else was possibly seeing through her bullshit like I was.

“Oh my gosh! Kazuya came to find us!” Keiko and Michiru squealed in sync while I grimaced over my shoulder. Yeesh, why do I always manage to find the weird ones to be friends with? Was it my hair?

Kuroda immediately turns on the black covered teen. “Hold on, are you the one who put these students up to telling these ridiculous ghost stories?” she accuses.

Kazuya calmly replies. “You didn’t answer my question.” He could see past deflection, good to know. “Could it be your psychic abilities are made up?” he continued. Kuroda was now angry, just like she got whenever someone challenged her.

“For your information, there are numerous spirits of those who died in the war that gather here. In fact, I’m positive that building was used as a hospital during the war. I’ve just seen too many injured spirits.”

Kazuya crossed his arms. “Hmm, I was unaware of there being a hospital here during the war. Although I know this school was founded well before the war, so maybe this was a medical school.

“Look I don’t know!” Kuroda clenches her teeth in frustration before clenching her fist and glaring at Kazuya. “But I know that I do see spirits. If you’re not psychic, then you wouldn’t understand.” She hisses angrily.

“Sorry Kazuya,” Michiru says, “can we do this some other time?”

“Yeah I’m not in the mood anymore.” Keiko says somberly while looking at the floor and scuffing her shoe.

The teen nodded, “no? Perhaps another day.” He acknowledges and then moves to leave the room before pausing and turning back, glancing over his shoulder. “Oh, and Karma? Would you mind coming with me for a moment?” I sweat drop, but follow him out of the room nonetheless. I did nothing wrong, and I doubt that he wants to talk about anything too hazardous.

“How is your friend doing?” I ask casually as we walk together down the empty school hallways.

“Yes, about that. He suffered a sprain to his left leg and I’m afraid he won’t be walking for a while.” He says coolly, pulling slightly ahead of me so that he could avoid looking at me. I was displeased to find that he was taller than me, which while it wasn’t exactly unusual, it was still annoying. I wasn’t exactly short (still taller than Nagisa) but I wasn’t exactly gifted in height either. Not like I had been in middle school.

“Oh, please tell him I’m sorry and that I hope it gets better then. Anyways, what were you two even doing there?” I ask, lengthening my stride so that I can keep up.

“Working.”

I stop as he continues to walk. “Oh, I get it,” I begin, trying to fish for more information. “Are you like his assistant or something?” He was young, and while I was the boss of my own organization, I can’t assume that the same is true for Kazuya. Much safer to assume that it’s the other way around.

“No, not quite.” He stops and then turns to face me. “He’s the assistant and I’m the boss” he says. I raise an eyebrow and fake shock, but really it isn’t that surprising. He certainly had the attitude of a boss. “And now my assistant is stuck in bed. I believe it is up to you to replace him for the time being.” I froze for a moment, just staring at him.

He was offering me the ideal way to keep an eye on him, so that I could figure out what he is up to without being too suspicious. I have no doubt that he was intelligent, and I didn’t want to risk tipping him off by sneaking into his records via my other sources. I could refuse since it’s not my fault that his assistant was injured. The thing is that if I refused, he would most likely do whatever it is all by himself. Without spending too much more time on thinking about it, I agree.

“Sure, why not. I have the free time, although I’ll have you know that none of that was my fault. I merely followed the girl in to prevent her from doing anything stupid. The old school building is ready to collapse.” I say, waggling my finger at him. “What do you do at your job anyways?” I ask.

He smirks, “I hunt ghosts. I figure that a parapsychology student must at least be a bit competent.” He sneers. I scowl. “In other words, I exorcise spirits. My company, Shibuya Psychic Research, was hired to conduct an investigation on the old school building.” I was taken aback. I’d heard that name before, even if I’d never been able to put faces to the names that we were given back then.

Back during my time at True Cross Academy, we’d taken that one mission where we dealt with a spirit gone demon. If I remember correctly, the clients had hired some ghost hunters at first, but when it turned out to be outside of the ghost hunter’s expertise, they’d hired us. Admittedly we usually only dealt with the beasts from Gehenna. But our class had just been unlucky with having to deal with other things, like the Fabricated World and the Jikininki. Plenty of things that had fallen to demonic levels. It was no surprise that the class with the Satanic twins and highly qualified teachers were given these cases. It was just pure luck that I knew what to do.

The circumstances just _happened_ to line up.

But, the name Shibuya Psychic Research – or SPR… It had been written all over the papers that had been left behind by the ghost hunters. I hadn’t payed all that much attention to that at the time – I had much more important things to do and worry about – but of course, like all information, my brain had locked onto the information and now it had reappeared.

Just when I need it.

“Research?” I shook my head, taken aback. He called himself a ghost hunter and then insisted upon research.

“Is that a question.” He demanded, expression cold as he stared me down. I wasn’t about to let him get the better of me. At my unaffected stare, he continued to speak, beginning to walk once more. “Psychic research is another term for spiritual investigations. We basically examine and scrutinize reports of paranormal phenomena.” He walked dramatically to the end of the hall, leaving me standing by the window. Then he turned with his dress shoes squeaking on the floor.

“And I run the company.”

* * *

[Friday]

[Evening]

Kazuya had had me meet him after classes were long over outside of the school in the back parking lot. The sun was just beginning to set, leaving us enough natural light to see, even if the street lights had begun to flicker on. Kazuya was unlocking a big van when I got there, with my arrival being just in time to get a clear view on the contents of the van. It was filled with shelving equipment and other boxes.

“One week ago, your headmaster contacted my company.” He said picking up a box and turning to face me. “Your headmaster was displeased with the amount of damage control that needs to be done due to the rumour that the building is haunted.” He handed me a couple shelves before piling on a couple surprisingly heavy boxes. I pretended to fumble with the weight because that was what was expected of a normal teenager.

I wasn’t supposed to be super strong. He was purposely giving me too much to carry. Probably just to be a dick. I couldn’t let him win because pride, but, I also couldn’t be too abnormal. He already knew that something was up with me, no reason to give him any more information than necessary. I like to think that I got better at keeping my secrets by now. I’d had plenty of practice.

“When I checked the records, I was able to verify that up until 18 years ago, while the school building was still being used, there would be at least one or two deaths inside the structure every year.” The dark-haired teen explained as he continued to dig through the van, pulling out a laptop and beginning to type. “It’s also true that when construction crews were demolishing the east side of the building, there was an accident where the roof collapsed prematurely. No workers died, although 5 were injured in the incident which was ultimately blamed on human error.” His typing was pulling up article after article and other research that backed up what he was saying.

He grabbed his own armful of supplies (that I noticed _was_ heavier than my own) and we walked into the building as the red sun illuminated the structure. “Construction ended with only a third of the planned demolition work ever being finished. A teacher did in fact commit suicide in the building, but that was explained in the suicide note left by the victim. The incident with a truck last year was a drunk driving accident. That’s when construction was stopped for the last time. No doubt the rumours played a part in this decision. Based on my research, the existence of paranormal activity here is no more than fiction.”

“For a place this active, every occurrence has a reasonable explanation.” He placed the shelving equipment that he was holding on a large desk in a room on the second floor, turning to look at me. “We’ll set up base here.”

I frowned, “base?”

“Precisely. We’ll conduct all our observations from this room.” He acknowledged, nodded sharply, his features half hidden by the crimson backlight of the sunset.

“Oh yeah, of course. Guess I’m still learning?” I sweat dropped, resisting the urge to rub the back of my neck sheepishly. What was it about this guy that just put me on edge and made me feel so small and stupid? I was a genius – a successful genius. As far as I know, he was just a normal guy. I shouldn’t even be so uncertain now. I was a trained exorcist and assassin. I had plenty of experience. Maybe it was just the idea of ghosts that was getting to me. It was an unknown.

“Set up those shelves for me. I’ll start bringing in the equipment.” He snapped, walking past me and out the door.

“You’re going to leave me here all by myself?” I asked dubiously. As much as I wanted to believe that this building was not haunted by anything malevolent, I didn’t exactly want to risk it either. If I used my powers or skills to save myself, a lot of questions would be asked by my new ‘boss’. Questions, that I didn’t want to have to answer.

“Would _you_ rather carry this stuff in? It’s heavy, some of it weighs almost a hundred pounds.” He said, a challenging look in his eyes. He’d obviously appreciated and believed my faked fumble. I knew that in these clothes that I didn’t exactly look like I could handle much (in fact I actually looked scrawny) but now he was just teasing. The urge to prove him wrong was strong, but I should wait and hold all my cards close to my chest.

“I’ll stick to shelves.” I say, sneering as soon as the boy leaves the room. I dump the contents of my arms onto the table along with the shelves. I really can’t believe how stuck up this guy is. I mean sure I was technically his employee for now, but does he have to act so self-important? The guy was a ghost hunter. That’s not exactly a sought-out job.

I leaned against the table for a moment, just breathing and calming down. The urge to just deck the guy was strong. That’s when the creaking started, plenty of weird noises followed. It was probably just my nerves playing tricks on me. The lights flashed on and I instinctually covered my ears at the noise and sudden brightness. Don’t ask why I covered my ears at the sight of artificial light. Instincts are weird things, especially when one is already incredibly uneasy just by the situation they have found themselves in. A hand appeared at the door and immediately sent my heart racing, but the door was pulled back to reveal Kazuya with cords draped all over his body.

That was quick. We were on the second floor.

“Stop goofing off and get back to work.” A tick formed above my eyebrow at the nerve of this guy. It was official. I hated him.

Soon enough we had the base set up with monitors covering the shelves. “What is that?” I asked, pointing at a couple cameras sitting on one of the many wooden tables in the room.

“An infrared camera and a thermal imaging camera,” he replies. “They’re used to shoot in total darkness. This one uses thermography to record temperatures.” He explains, pointing to one of them as he moves around the room. “When a spirit appears, the temperature around it will drop and show up on the camera.” He begins fiddling with some of the wires connected to the monitors.

“It’s amazing you know how to use all of this.” I say sarcastically, stepping closer to get a better look at the cameras.

“No, it’s not, my brain just works differently than yours.”

He didn’t catch the sarcasm and thought that was legit. Ugh! Where did this guy get off on putting people down? I was a genius! Smart! Been in the A Classes since forever, save my last year of middle school. But that was of course, due to extenuating circumstances. He seemed convinced that I was an idiot? Was it because of all of the questions?

“I see…” I said slowly, not really seeing because his response, while valid, did not fully apply in this situation. I was more than capable of doing what the did. I just didn’t show it to him. Why was it that my covers always made me seem like an idiot? Was being a curious asshole really all that awful? “After all, you are Mr. Hotshot Boss! You might as well do everything!” I say with false cheer, holding myself back from yelling at him. Like Asano was an asshole, but this guy was an _asshole_.

“But what made you decide to go into the ghost hunting business?” I ask, fishing for some more information.

“Because someone has to do it.” Was his serious response.

“Have you had any cases you weren’t able to explain?” I continue curiously, watching as he adjusted the equipment.

“No. I’m very good at my job.” Well they certainly hadn’t handled the Jikininki case, although technically speaking they _did_ explain it. ‘Demon’ just happened to be the explanation, even if it wasn’t the most accurate of explanations. But that was still an arrogant response. Seriously, Nagisa thought that _I_ was bad.

(But… I couldn’t help but think that he was as smart as he was handsome, even if he was a dick about it.)

“Amazing; smart and good looking.” I mumble under my breath grumpily as I set to work in setting up the last of the equipment left for the base.

“So,” he says suddenly, “you think I’m handsome.” He looks at me oddly.

I immediately backpedal, “well I mean that’s what all the girls say anyways.” Goodbye, calm and cool facade. He wasn’t supposed to hear that, and of course this is the moment that I chose to get so flustered that I can’t convincingly lie. Bitch-sensei would be so disappointed in me.

“Well, they have very good taste.”

I’m taken aback. That was _not_ the response I was expecting. The cool way he just delivered that sentence was astonishing. I almost can’t believe this guy! Sure, he may be good looking and really successful for such a young age (I mean, for being normal, that is) but I’ve never seen a bigger narcissist in my life! And I’ve met plenty! Screw it, I’m calling this guy Naru from now on.

Naru the Narcissist.

* * *

The sun had set by the time we were finished setting up equipment around the building, and I was guilty of yawning way more than I should be. I was tired; sue me.

“Well that should be all that we have to do for today.” He declares, rubbing his shoulders in an attempt to ease the tension that they no doubt held.

“Today? You mean–”

“I’ll see you here tomorrow.”

I stumbled out of the building, my bag slung over his shoulder as I prepare to walk home. It was dark out, and the lights that should have come on by now were out. Probably blown or something. I get down the steps when suddenly a bright light falls on me, blinding me briefly. My demonic genes allowed me to see in the darkness like a cat, but the suddenly light dazed me.

“Karma? Have you been here with Kazuya all night long?” a small feminine voice asks me. The light moves downwards to reveal Keiko, Michiru, and Takehashi.

“What were you even doing?” Takehashi says.

“Well it’s a long story–”

“Paranormal investigations?” Michiru gasps in shock as we all begin to walk away from the school buildings. “ _Not_ another freshman then.”

“According to him, he’s a ghost hunter.” I sigh as I fold my hands behind my head and walk with my eyes closed. My senses were strong enough that I wouldn’t walk into anything. I would be fine.

“Ghost hunter?!” they gasp dramatically in unison.

Suddenly a voice comes out of the darkness in front of us. “Oh hey!” the girl steps into the light to reveal none other than Kuroda, just the person I wanted to see. Not. “I was wondering if you could introduce me to him.” She says, placing her hand on her chest in the typical dramatic fashion that most girls here seemed to have adopted as their own.

“Introduce you?” I ask incredulously, staring at her with my unnerving golden eyes. I know they glowed in the dark sometimes, but I could explain it away as them just reflecting the street light, even if it was dim. “To Naru.” I continue, beginning to giggle slightly at the very idea.

“What’s this Naru stuff about anyways?” Michiru pouts, leaning into my personal space abruptly. We’d all stopped walking as soon as Kuroda had been spawned from the shadows.

“That guy has got to be one of the biggest narcissists I’ve ever met in my life! I can’t believe I actually have to work for him now!” I say, waving my hand in a ‘so it goes’ type of gesture. That’s when Kuroda decides to make her presence known. Again.

“Y-you know, I have many psychic abilities myself. I think I could really help Kazuya with his work!” she says, her voice wobbling. Yeah fucking right.

“Well since he’s a professional and all, maybe it’s not such a good idea for you to get involved.” I try to placate her, knowing that the boss man wouldn’t want her working with us. I doubt he even wants to work with me, but he asked so now he’s stuck with me. Kuroda was annoying though and would only prattle on and on about her own most likely fake abilities.

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.

“Well I’m by no means an armature!” she was indignant, suddenly glaring at me. I was taller and smarter than her. Not to mention more intimidating. I wasn’t even fazed by her gaze. Takehashi and the others on the other hand…

“Let’s go, Karma.” Keiko said snottily, grabbing my arm and beginning to drag me away from Kuroda along with the others. She stuck her nose way up in the air as she stomped off. So did Michiru. Maybe it was a girl thing, but I feel like their dislike for Kuroda ran deeper than just because of her need to be the centre of attention.

“That girl is such a weirdo! She’s been like that since middle school.” Michiru announces out of the blue. “Yeah, that’s right! I went to the same middle school _and_ high school as that freak! She would constantly bug people about her spirits or whatever. No friends, stupid girl just wanted someone to notice her. Before graduation we pranked her by convincing everyone to pretend she wasn’t there for a day. The girl freaking lost it.” She confesses flippantly, sneering to herself at the thought of the supposed psychic.

I had no idea that Michiru was such a bitch.

“Wait, _I_ know why she wants to help out!” Keiko says suddenly, her voice taking on a mocking tone as she laughed with Michiru. “It’s because she’s already fallen in love with Kazuya! Gross!” the three of them laughed as they continued walking down the dark street, their path lit by store display lights.

* * *

[Saturday]

I had arrived in the morning bright and early to find that Naru was already sitting in the open van, more equipment still packed away. I had forgone the typical uniform that I wore to school for something more functional. A loose long sleeve sweater shirt and some black tighter fit jeans. The shirt was half tucked in and warm enough that the brisk April air didn’t bother me. I naturally ran hotter and probably would have been fine in some cargo shorts and a t-shirt, but I had scars and tattoos that I couldn’t explain right now.

My clothes were darker today, but at least they had some colour even if it was muted. Unlike Kazuya and his all black dress shirt, pants and shoes. The guy was in business attire even if he had foregone the tie and blazer. I looked like a high school student in comparison to him. Although at the age of 16 with me being 17 in late December (my birthday was on Christmas and I found that insanely ironic due to who my father is), I probably should be in my last year of high school.

But like that fucking narcissist, I graduated early. The only reason that I had stuck around so long in the system anyways was to look normal. My foster family was dead. Too much attention would have been paid to the genius who graduated any earlier than I did.

“What’s up!” I say to announce my presence, looking over his shoulder at the laptop that he was looking at as he made notes in a small black notebook – that action reminded me a lot of Kyoya. The only difference being Kyoya’s quiet arrogance. Not the in your face shit like Naru.

“Checking the footage from last night’s data. So far there seems to be nothing unusual.” He says clinically, deftly penning some things down before closing his book. I tensed slightly as I heard the click of high heels on cobble stone. The both of us turned to look at the person who was walking towards us.

“That’s some fancy equipment you got there.” A snooty voice said. Looking up, it was easy to see that it came from the female of the duo that had come to a stop only a couple of feet away. She was wearing purple stilettos and a tight chic yellow dress with some floral designs. Her long hair matched the shade of her stilettos and her make up, while heavier than what I typically saw, was artfully done. She’d been doing it for a while now – a woman very focused on fashion and looking good. “That seems a little too high tech for a couple of children to be playing with.

A man stood beside her. Unlike the mystery woman, he was much more sensibly dressed, wearing heavy boots, simple slacks, and a brown jacket over a high coloured jumper. He had light brown hair that was long enough to be pulled back in a low ponytail. He stood beside the woman smiling sheepishly, as if he was slightly embarrassed to be standing so close to the woman. He didn’t know her well. A couple piercings lined his ears, which felt slightly out of place, but fit the tall man nonetheless. He stood a good foot taller than me.

Naru was as expected, unimpressed. “And who might you be?” he demands calmly, not letting a hint of emotion cross either his face or his voice.

The woman smirked smugly, not all unlike the smirk that Naru himself employed when he deemed it necessary. “I’m Ayako the shrine maiden. The principal wasn’t sold on you, so he called me to drive the spirits out.” She said that like it was something impressive, but I still hadn’t forgotten her comment about us being children. This woman was a bitch on the level of Bitch-sensei when we first met her. I’d call her Ms. Bitch, but she didn’t really deserve the honour.

Naru was even more unimpressed at that announcement. He let out a quiet sigh before snapping back. “I was under the impression that only innocent virgins could become shrine maidens.” Oh, his come back was _good_. I stifled giggles into my hand as I turned away from the woman, _trying_ to not antagonize her further. The man that stood behind the now irate woman obviously found it just as funny as I did, because he was struggling to muffle his own laughter at Naru’s remark.

“I see,” she said stiffly, her one eyebrow beginning to twitch aggressively, “and your point?”

“At the very least, I’d say your looking a little old to be calling yourself a maiden.” Oh Naru, you’re digging your own grave now. This woman looks rather violent. The man behind her just continues to laugh.

“Nice,” Ayako hisses, “very funny, you smart ass.”

Then Naru turns to the tall man, who had gained a semblance of control over his giggles by now. “And how about you? I would guess you’re too intelligent to be the shrine maiden’s assistant.”

The man smiles and straightens from his hunched over position. “I’m a monk from Mount Koya. The name’s Takigawa Houshou.” He beams at us. Naru was not having it.

“Since when were monks allowed to have long hair?”

Ayako took that chance to comment. “Apostate?”

Her comment obviously irritated Takigawa more, because he was quick to respond in a defensive manner. “I’m just on a little hiatus okay!” he glowers at Ayako as she smiles behind her hand. Then he turns his ire to Kazuya. “At any rate, play time is over kids. Now you may have gotten this gig because your office is nearby, but the principal himself said it seemed like a scam to have a teenager running the show.”

Naru raised an eyebrow, opening his laptop and beginning to type away. “Did he now?” he said in a blasé tone. He didn’t really care, he just found that little piece of information interesting.

“The principal’s just wasting his money. There’s no need to have all of us for such a simple job!” the shrine maiden pointed out.

“Yeah, all they really needed was me.” Takigawa said snidely, baiting the burgundy haired woman.

“Right, I wouldn’t be so sure.” She replied.

Of course, that was when Kuroda appeared out of fucking nowhere, again. She always seemed to be lurking nowadays. “Oh, thank goodness you’re all here! That haunted old school house has been terrorizing me for weeks. You see, I’m a psychic. The souls of those trapped there have–” She was cut off.

“Stop grand standing. You’re just looking for attention.” Ayako stared her down, her formerly smug expression suddenly serious. You could feel the resentment that she felt for Kuroda despite having only just spoken to her. “Are you really that desperate for people to like you?” Kuroda looked shocked that someone had dared to speak to her like that.

“Hey now, that was pretty rude.” I say suddenly, drawing everyone’s attention back to me.

“You know it’s true. She claims to have psychic abilities in the hopes that it will somehow make her popular.” Ayako insists, staring down Kuroda. I have to admit, the woman did have a superior air about her, to someone like Kuroda, that was no doubt intimidating.

I raise an eyebrow, inwardly puzzling why I was even defending Kuroda since she didn’t like me and I didn’t like her. “That was uncalled for.”

Kuroda clenched her hands in frustration behind me before suddenly giggling sinisterly. You know, the giggle that a villain does when they know something that you don’t. It didn’t work for her. She was too preppy for all that, especially since she was still wearing a sweater vest. “I’m going to call a spirit to haunt you.” She growls, light glinting off her glasses.

And… that’s when I lost any sort of faith in her meager abilities. That did it for me, proving the girl was lying. That was just stupid to say. Did she know how she sounds right now? Crazy. “Hold on there, Kuroda,” I begin, trying to stop the girl from making herself look any more like a fake than she already was. But she didn’t let me.

“You’re the fake, and you will regret this.” Then she just walks away. Wow, I’ve never seen her act like this, or even look that angry.

Shaking my head, I turn to Naru. “Hey Naru! What’s up? What are we gonna do today?” I ask brightly, bringing everyone back to the present. He continued to work for a moment before suddenly freezing and whipping around to look at me.

“Wait, what did you just say?” he asked softly, surprise dancing in his eyes. He stands up, “did you just call me ‘Naru’?” he asks. I lean backwards slightly as the intensity of his gaze registers.

I begin to apologize, “Sorry I–”

“Where did you hear that name?” he plows on, not caring for my stuttered response. He looks angry now, which honestly surprised me. What did I say? Naru? But that didn’t sound like such a big deal, but then again… maybe it sounded like something else. He did seem to at least be partially foreign. He had blue eyes and his skin was paler than I expected it would be if he had lived here. My genes could be explained away, but with my current knowledge, being partially foreign was the only conclusion I could draw.

There’s also the fact that the notes that I saw him typing were in English. Of course, I understood them, but that was a major slip up on his part. As far as he knows, I shouldn’t understand English that well. He was writing with a very scientific diction, so maybe he just assumed I wouldn’t know it? What sounded like the word ‘Naru’ but in English? And… why would something like that be a nickname?

Maybe the ‘r’ sounds like an ‘l’. Most Japanese people did struggle with the pronunciation and differentiation between the two. I knew that if I was focusing on pronouncing it in the English way I didn’t have a thick accent. But right now? I didn’t bother to try and hide my Japanese accent because I was in Japan and speaking Japanese. Naru sounds and awful lot like ‘Nollu’… was Noll a nickname? For what?

My thoughts were racing with all the newfound knowledge. I’d have to ask Bitch-sensei later about this. She was more likely to have an idea on what it was. After all, it sounds like I wasn’t supposed to know this nickname. He asked me where I’d heard it. Was pretty boy hiding something? “You mean you’ve been called that before?” I decided to play the idiot, he already thought I was anyways. “Of course, that makes sense, I couldn’t be the first to come up with something like Naru the Narcissist.” I giggle ‘nervously’.

I was saved from hearing Naru’s response by the arrival of the headmaster, with a small blond boy following behind him. I say small, but that’s only because he was about my height which made him shorter than everyone else that was currently present. Ayako was a tall woman, and her stilettos only made it worse, although she was still an inch shorter than Naru.

“Morning everyone, nice to see you all!” the thicker man said brightly as he approached. “Say hello to John Brown.” He gestures towards the blond man and back away to allow him to step forwards. He was holding a sweater in his arms, and he quickly fell into a respectful 80 degree bow as he cheerfully greets us.

“G’day mates.” He rises from his bow and looks at all of us. His eyes are a crystal blue, a couple shades lighter than Naru’s own bright eyes. Combine that with the blond hair and the accent and it was obvious that he was a foreigner. “The name’s John Brown. I come from the great outback of Australia. I can’t express how excited I am to join you!”

Ayako and Monk turned away and the both of them were giggling so hard that their shoulders were shaking. I suppressed my own laughter in an attempt to be polite. The headmaster seeing the two adults’ laughter was quick to intervene. “Brown-san is new to our country so please show him the respect he deserves.” Ayako of course, decides to mock him.

“No, no, of course. You’re looking for a playground, right?” she laughs, hunched over in mirth. John Brown isn’t even fazed by her mockery. He just calmly smiles and responds seriously.

“Well actually, I practice the ancient art of exorcism.” He says, halting Takigawa and Matsuzaki’s laughter instantly. I was surprised though, he must be from that one sector of the Vatican that interacted with the common public. Focusing more on the paranormal than the business of Gehenna. More of the Christian faith, than into hunting down and killing demons.

“Only those who have been ordained into the Catholic Church as priests can conduct exorcisms. You seem young for that.” Naru points out, forgetting about my new nickname for him in favour of questioning John. I subconsciously reach up to finger the cross that I have dangling from my ear lobe. It hangs right beside the symbol of the Vatican, and if John paid closer attention to it he’d know that I was involved enough to wear the symbol.

Luckily, his focus seemed wholly occupied by Naru. “You really know your stuff, mate. To be honest, I just turned 19 a few weeks ago. That’s why I look so young.” He scratches at his hair sheepishly and smiles innocently up at Naru. What a contrast they make, the blond and black hair combined with their outfits (John was wearing _pastels_ ) made quite the image. I was probably going to end up doing a sketch later. Thank you photographic memory. But wow, he’s 19. He’s older than Naru.

* * *

“So we have an exorcist, an apostate monk, and a ghost hunter. Obviously, this boneheaded principal doesn’t have much faith in my unique cleansing abilities. Hmpf, just watch, I’ll clear this entire place myself.” Ayako says before walking out of the base where we’d all congregated after the headmaster left. She pointedly ignored what Naru was doing as he fiddled with his technology. Takigawa was quick to follow.

“I’m gonna do a walk through, see ya later.” And then he’s gone too, leaving only me, Naru, and John still in the base. John is delicately clutching his pale green sweater.

He turns to Naru. “Uh, excuse me sir?” But Naru is a rude piece of shit as always.

“You may do as you wish.”

John steps closer to him, reaching out a little, and I can’t help but think that he looks really young. “Um sir, I’d really like to work with you on this.” How sweet, at least one of the new arrivals wasn’t being as much of a jerk as Naru was. Although, John’s gaze flickered briefly to my earrings, taking in both the cross and the Vatican symbol that was wrapped around my upper ear and plugging up my cartilage piercings. My hair hid the Vatican one a bit, but with how John stared I knew that he at least found it odd.

Then suddenly a scream filled the air. “That sounds like Ayako!” John cries, startling all of us into action. We run into the other room to find Takigawa already yelling at a closed door, trying to calm the woman trapped behind it who was just banging against the door.

“Alright calm down! I’m going to kick it down.” He yells at the door.

Ayako, who had lost what had remained of her patience yelled back, “alright just do it already!” Takigawa took a step or two backward before launching himself at the door and breaking it with a single kick. For a human, that took strength. I was mildly impressed. The door shattered, revealing a cowering Ayako. I quickly lead her over to a chair, playing the ghost hunters assistant.

“I was looking around the classroom, when suddenly the door slammed shut. I tried opening it, but it wouldn’t budge. There’s definitely a spirit here!” she insists, leaning heavily against the back of the chair. None of us point out how freaked out she looks. I’m about to respond when my head snaps up to look at the door. There were footsteps; someone is here.

“No, there isn’t.” a soft feminine voice says. It’s a bit floaty, very dream like and serene. Everyone else turns to look at the door. “I don’t sense one paranormal being.” I can’t resist the urge upon seeing what the girl looks like and just to toy with Naru a bit, I jump behind him and comically gasp ‘ghost’. Naru is unimpressed.

“Relax Karma, she’s human.” He says to me, and John catches me rolling my eyes behind his back. The girl that comes forward, letting the natural light hit her features and I raise an eyebrow. She’s wearing a full kimono, and with her hair cut, she looks very much like a porcelain doll. She reminds me of Shiemi, what with her demeanor and the outfit. “Masako Hara is a spirit medium.” He explains to the room at large.

My eyes widen as I take her in. I’d never met or seen a medium before. “Oh, another one?” I say absentmindedly. Takigawa doesn’t find it as fascinating as I do though.

“Fantastic.” He exclaims, gesturing towards Masako. “So now they’re calling in a TV star?!” he’s obviously displeased with her presence. Probably ours too. Ayako isn’t pleased either.

“This is ridiculous! It’s easy to fake results on television. The only reason she gets ratings is because she’d pretty and wears that silly kimono.” She says indignantly, turning up her nose.

Masako is calm in demeanor and response as her dark eyes stare piercingly at the burgundy haired woman. “Thank you, I’ll take that as a compliment.” Oooh, nice.

“Well trust me, it’s not.” Ayako bites out, glaring at the teen.

Masako turns to Naru. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you before.” She says, staring up at Naru’s face.

“Yes, we’ve never met, but your reputation precedes you.”

She stares, “right.” I can tell that she’s already fascinated and drawn in. Just another girl lost to the charms of the face and forgetting the fact that he’s a narcissistic douchenozzle.

“Right, there is a haunting here,” Ayako breaks in. “In my professional opinion. We’re dealing with an earthbound spirit.”

The monk shakes his head. “I think we’re dealing with a residual spirit. A traumatic event must have happened in this building in the past.”

I look up at him. “So, you mean like someone was murdered here and they have to spend eternity looking for their killer or something?” I ask, wide eyed. Damn ghosts were kinda hardcore. Most exorcists that deal with things from Gehenna just get stuck dealing with coal tars and other low levels that are just annoying. Ghost seemed to get pretty violent pretty quick. Ayako had already been locked into a room. That was fast.

“Close. I think the entity doesn’t want to lose its home so it’s attempting to block the construction.” Takigawa responds.

Naru turns to John. “John, what do you think?” he asks calmly, drawing everyone’s attention to the teen priest.

John shakes his head, “Well to be honest, I’m not sure. But usually a haunting does originate with a ghost or spirit occupying a structure.”

“So, it’s either a haunting or fiction and folklore,” Naru says as he taps his chin with a… nail? Or is that a pen? He turns on me, “Are you listening, Karma?”

I glare at him. “Of course, I am, what do you take me for?” seriously why did he chose to attack me now?

“These are things you need to learn.” Oh, that’s why. We stare at each other for a moment, before Ayako wrecks it, yet again.

“Enough talk, I am going to get rid of this thing as soon as I get back.” She says as she storms out of the room. “I don’t know how long I can put up with you people.” I thought for sure that she would just go and that this day would be over, but then it seems I spoke (thought?) too soon because that’s when Kuroda decided to arrive and make this entire thing a right party. Phenomenal, just what the tension ridden room needed. A nosy whiny university student who had been trying to get people to notice her since forever.

“I wouldn’t be so confident in your abilities. The spirit that haunts this place is incredibly powerful.” She states, looking up at Ayako and radiating anger.

“Kuroda,” I gasp quietly, as Ayako shoves her over.

“Move aside.” She demands in a harsh tone before stomping away. I rush over to catch the girl as she falls to the floor. I didn’t like her, but I was a nice person, so I wouldn’t let her fall to the floor. Kuroda latches onto me as she looks into my eyes.

“The spirit attacked me.” She says suddenly, seemingly imploring me to believe her with just her willpower. Nah… really? “It’s true. I was walking down the hallway when suddenly my hair was yanked backwards with amazing force. When I tried to flee it started strangling me. It said ‘you’re interfering with the psychic. Leave or die’ and then it let me go. I barely got away.” She confessed, leaning into me. I leaned back but held her up by her shoulders.

Naru leaned back against the table that his monitors sat on, crossing his arms as he watched me help Kuroda stand up. “When did this happen?” he demanded harshly, not caring that she was obviously shaken up. I mean I really didn’t care either, but at least I was pretending.

“A few minutes ago, in the second floor hallway.”

Masako stands her ground and turns to all of us, immediately denying what Kuroda said. “That’s false. There are no spirits here.” She insists.

“Yes, there are!” Kuroda bursts out, “there are, and they’re angry!” she almost seemed to threaten. This outburst caused Naru to get up from his lazy position.

“You said it was the second-floor hallway?” he said more than asked. Then he made his way over to the monitors and began to click around, checking the footage of the camera that we’d placed there last night when he’d taught me how to set up the others. The tapes showed Kuroda entering the building and walking up the stairs to the aforementioned hallway, but suddenly the footage turned fuzzy and then cut to static altogether.

“What just happened? Is the camera broken?” I asked, slightly freaked out. The loud noise bugged me, and so did the fact that the footage of the attack was mysteriously missing. Something didn’t add up. Why had Naru been holding a nail?

“No, but it is quite strange.” Naru admits, holding his chin in his hand as he thought. “When a spirit becomes active, electronic equipment will often malfunction. But here I’m not so sure. Is it a spirit or EM interference?”

“It’s quite obviously a spirit!” Kuroda insists, her anger palpable. “Human interference doesn’t cause someone to be attacked.”

“But Masako said there are no spirits here.” I point out. Kuroda was really emotionally invested in this. How… odd.

“Well let’s just say that I’m a little skeptical about her.” She snarls, glaring at the teen in front of her. How mature, for an 18-year-old nobody to be fussing about a widely renowned medium. Masako most likely knew what she was doing. Did Kuroda?

“It is common for female mediums to be exactly right or way off base. Even if she can’t sense any spirits now doesn’t mean the haunting isn’t active. If what you say is true, then it’s possible that the spirit that inhabits this place is very in tune with your wavelength.” Naru smirked, something odd glinting in his eyes as he stares at Kuroda.

Kuroda didn’t see it, far too happy that someone finally believed her, latched onto his comment like it was her last lifeline. I wasn’t so sure that he believed her though. I’d been trained to read body language and facial expressions, and I knew something was off. Just like I knew something was off with his reaction to the nickname that I’d created for him.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Kuroda breathed excitedly.

Then I had a thought. If that was the case, then was this Michiru and Keiko’s fault? They _had_ been telling those ghost stories infinitely longer than I had. I literally joined in on the last round. The others in the parapsychology class probably contributed too. I suddenly remembered what Kuroda had said.

_“Whenever you tell one of your little ghost stories you attract low level spirits and they attract stronger spirits and then we’re in big trouble! So, while you entertain yourselves with these foolish stories, you’re putting me at risk!”_

Did us telling stories actually attract real ghosts?


	2. File 1 - Part 2

_“Whenever you tell one of your little ghost stories you attract low level spirits and they attract stronger spirits and then we’re in big trouble! So, while you entertain yourselves with these foolish stories, you’re putting me at risk!”_

_Did us telling stories actually attract real ghosts?_

* * *

[April]

[Saturday]

“I stand here today to beseech the gods. I call upon them to descend from the heavens and join us where no gods dwell to end this ceaseless suffering. I ask that my humble plea may be heard.” Ayako was kneeling on the floor of a classroom with two men standing vigil by the door. The lights were all off, leaving the natural light as the only source of light besides two candles that she had arranged on a makeshift altar. She was wearing a traditional robe, and she held a stick with some paper strings tied to the end. “To reclaim peace unto the spirits trapped in this place.”

We were standing in the door and watching as Ayako continued to say her prayer. “What is she doing?” I whispered to the three men standing around me. It was odd, being the shortest of the bunch. They were all older than me though, so it wasn’t like things were back at Ouran Academy.

“Have you never heard of Norito?” Naru asked, not even bothering to look at me. I scowled immediately.

“No?” I trailed off, waiting for him to answer me. He raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t offer an explanation. That cocky little son of a–

“They’re just Shinto incantations.” Takigawa answered instead. I nodded in thanks and pointedly avoided looking up at Naru. “But I’m starting to wonder if she can even pull this off.

“I’ve never seen anyone perform a Shinto exorcism before,” Naru acknowledged, “let’s watch.”

“May this place be as the high heavenly plane; may the energy of all living things act as one and hail Marishtain the goddess of light. Descend and grant us your divine protection.” Ayako finished off her prayer, and then turned to the two men. “That’s it. Now you’ll have nothing to worry about.” She said, that when the back of my neck began to prickle as the air became heavy with… something. I didn’t know what was happening, but it wasn’t good.

“I’m quite impressed,” said the headmaster, “that was presented beautifully. Thank you so much.” I looked around, no longer paying attention to what Ayako or the headmaster was saying. All my senses were going haywire and I didn’t know why. I whirled around, looking for something. I was glad that I did, because I was just in time to catch sight of two black braids as someone ran through the building. Everyone else was looking at Ayako. Well except Naru, and a quick glance at him revealed that he had seen the same thing I had. Everyone had turned to leave when suddenly, I heard something off.

Something that didn’t belong in here. The cracking of glass. Everyone else froze a split second after I did, so that means it became audible to the human ear rather quickly. The glass continued to crack, and then it shattered, breaking along with the doors that held it and it rained down on Ayako and the two men with her.

Takigawa reacted first, running towards Matsuzaki. “Are you alright?” Ayako nodded, but by then John had joined the monk in looking over the three who had been close to the blast.

“This man is bleeding!” he called as he examined one of the fallen.

Takigawa immediately ran to the other. “Looks like he is too! Ayako, what about you?”

“I’m alright.” She assured him.

“What about you sir?” The monk asked, kneeling cautiously next to the fallen man.

“Yes, I’ll be fine,” he whispered hoarsely in response to Takigawa’s question.

“Can you stand?” Houshou asked.

What is going on here? Was that Kuroda who had fled down the hall? What did that mean?

The ambulance arrived within plenty of time, and they quickly carted off the two injured men. I had taken Ayako back to the base along with Takigawa and John’s help. Kuroda was there just waiting for us, along with Masako.

“I thought you said there would be nothing to worry about now. Looks like your little exorcism didn’t work.” Kuroda said smugly as she sneered at the priestess. “Your failure has just sent to principal to the hospital.

Masako shook her head as she approached the two other women. “That was a simple accident.”

“Thank you, I thought I did my job very well.” Ayako sniffed.

“But I’m not sure your exorcism worked. It couldn’t have, because there were no spirits here to begin with.” Masako insists. I gotta give it to all these women; they were certainly very confident and persistent. Each one was stuck in their opinions and refused to even listen to the others. Unbelievable. This is what we return to, after seeing the ambulance off.

Kuroda was once more, getting worked up and having absolutely none of what Masako was dishing. “Yes, there are!” she yelled at the younger girl. “I was nearly killed by one of them earlier today!” her mouth was set in a hard line as she glared with all her might at Masako and Ayako.

“Maybe it was a coincidence.” John suggested as he stared up at the monk and ghost hunter.

“Or there’s something here.” Takigawa contradicted. “Something too strong for Ayako to drive away.

Naru frowned and crossed his arms, “if that was the case, there would be more conclusive readings on my equipment.” Damn, not even Naru was sure what was happening. It was times like this that I wished that I had some sort of psychic ability. I had my demonic instincts, but I was shit out of luck when it came to spirits. I could only sense so much, and so far, I was getting a shit ton of nothing. I doubt that I’d pick up anything even if a spirit was right in front of me.

It’s actually decently likely that my fire might be able to affect the spirits, but I really don’t fancy burning the dead to try and… kill them further. It’s just a bit not good. Plus, Naru and the others would think that something is up. I’d only end up revealing this if I absolutely have to. A spirit that hasn’t even attacked me yet probably won’t warrant that reveal. Worst case scenario, I can recite some fatal verses that I learned from Bon and Izumo if something got too close for comfort.

But with my heritage, would something even _want_ to get close? Even if they were off their rocker, challenging any of Satan’s sons was foolish. But, that would only theoretically work if they knew. Hmm, I wonder how John would react, if he were to find out that I was literally the son of the devil.

I look up at the monitors and immediately something sticks out as wrong. “Hey! That room didn’t have a chair in it before.” I notice suddenly.

Naru rushes over and stands behind me, looking over my shoulder. “That’s a classroom on the second floor.”

“I set the camera up in there yesterday just like you told me to.” I confirm. “I swear, it wasn’t there.” Naru nods and turns to Takigawa.

“Houshou, have you seen anyone go inside that classroom?”

The monk frowns as he thinks about it for a moment. “No?” it was more a question than a statement, but at this point that was good enough for Naru.

“Me neither.” John pipes up, throwing in his two cents. Naru turns to his hub of technology and presses some buttons until we hear the tail end of the conversation that Ayako had been having with the principal. We hear the crash and screams as the glass in the doors shatters, but that wasn’t the monitor that held all of our gazes.

No, instead we were all focused on what was happening in that second-floor classroom. Just after the screams finished, an awful scraping noise came from the monitor that held the data from that classroom. Soon enough, a chair began to jerkily slide across the wooden floor, until it came to rest where I’d seen it in the middle of the room. I felt my pulse quicken as my brain registered that that was _proof_ that something was here. The only time that I’d ever seen a ghost was when it had already gone demon. This… this was different.

Wow, I’d dealt with an octopus that blew up the moon, nightmares from my past, and demon kings, but a _ghost_ was what sent a jolt of fear running through me?

Everyone’s eyes widened immensely at the sight. Even Naru was shocked at this new development. “Was that a… ghost?” I ask hesitantly, not wanting to set Naru any further on edge. Something told me that it wouldn’t be pretty if he got angry enough for us to see his anger.

“It looks to me like a poltergeist.” A snaky resentful voice called over to the four of us that had crowded around the monitors.

I cock my head to the side curiously. “A poltergeist?” I’d heard the word before, but never in a context like this. Damn, I really should have paid more attention when Itona was going through his paranormal phase. I’d have to check up with Ritsu to get some more information so I don’t make a fool out of myself.

I don’t like looking like an idiot.

“It’s a German word dating back four centuries that means ‘noisy ghost’.” She fixed her glasses before continuing to explain. “They are manifestations that can influence and move objects at will.”

Naru stood up, looking at her with a calculating look in his eyes. “That is correct, but I don’t think that’s what we’re dealing with.” His gaze was hard, and he was staring at Kuroda with an oddly intense gaze. To her credit, she didn’t flinch or back down, but with his look at her, I immediately began to pay more attention to her. There was something off about both her and this building, and something told me that she was involved. All the things that didn’t make sense… she’d been involved in it somehow.

Naru was already looking at her funny, I might as well join him. I could pick up some things that his senses just couldn’t. “Quite often objects that are manipulated by a poltergeist will feel warm to the touch.” He continued, “if we look at our thermographic image, we can see that the chair is not radiating heat.”

“But don’t forget Tisane’s criteria.” John cut in

“He was a French policeman and he was the first to classify poltergeists. Throwing objects, strange noises, fires, doors closing by themselves, and so on. There are nine different criteria in all, and so far, we’ve seen a number of them at this site.” Naru explained, looking directly at me as he did so, considering everyone else in the room already seemed to know what he meant. “We have doors closing on their own, inanimate objects moving, and glass breaking, which makes up 3 of the 9 criteria.”

“But what about Kuroda getting attacked?” I frowned, my eyebrows fusing together in my confusion.

“I’m afraid it was just her imagination.” Masako said smoothly, receiving another glare from the aforementioned girl.

“Stop playing games with me,” she demanded, “why can’t you admit this place is haunted?” But Masako was already moving to leave the room. No doubt tired of hearing the university student whine over and over. Honestly, I pitied her, and I was getting tired of this insistence.

Masako turned back to look at Kuroda as she stood in the doorway. “Alright then, I’ll try once more. I will sense them if there are any spirits here.” Then she was gone down the hall.

“If we truly are dealing with a spirit here, and Masako can’t sense it, that would be quite a shock.” John observes, watching the kimono wearing medium disappear down the hall. The girl had stopped reminding me of Shiemi by now. She was too snooty, too rude. So sure of herself that it was actually beginning to get annoying with how she presented that information. Her calm breathy voice was beginning to get on my nerves. Seriously show some emotion. Even Naru showed more emotion than she did (well besides distain) and I was convinced that he only spoke in monotone. It was just that her eyes were kind of dead; like she was floating through life, not all here.

Speak (err, think) of the devil and he shall appear (err, speak), “there is no evidence saying that a ghost is here.” Why is he supporting her? Oh wait, there was that odd look in his eyes again. Wow, never thought that even Naru – Mr. Perfect – would be a sucker for a pretty face.

“You’re just a sucker for a pretty face.”

For a moment, I was scared that I had said that out loud, but turning around and looking away from Naru, revealed that it was actually Kuroda who had said that. “Why else would you be sticking up for her?” she sneered. Externally, I was sure that my face hadn’t fallen out of its passive mask, but internally I was freaking out. That was exactly what I was thinking. Was it a coincidence?

“I’m quite familiar with Ms. Hara’s work.” Naru said defensively as he looked away from the girl with the braids. “I firmly believe that she’s one of the best in her field. All I’m doing is giving her the respect she deserves.”

This made Ayako frustrated. “I’m much more talented than she is and I’m not getting nearly that level of respect.”

Naru of course, snapped back. “What is it about you that I should hold in such high regard? Because I’m drawing a blank.” Wow he was laying it on thick. That was a good comeback, I could have used that a year or two ago. Dealing with so many annoying people.

“What did you just say?!” Ayako demanded harshly, but she was interrupted before she could continue by the sound of snapping wood. Wood that was so loud that everyone could hear it, especially since it was made even louder by the sounds resounding from the monitors as well. We all looked up at the roof, taking in the sounds.

“Creaking noises?” Takigawa said in awe.

“Don’t ghosts make noises like that?” I asked curiously, my voice oddly calm. Calm enough that Naru shot me an odd look. Shit, my reactions weren’t consistent. The ceiling began to crack, but we were all distracted by the sound of screams from the monitors. John rushed forwards before looking back at us.

“It’s Masako! Someone call an ambulance!”

* * *

“The portion of the Eastern wall that had been demolished was boarded up with weak plywood and was by no means structurally sound. She must have leaned on it, causing it to break beneath her weight.” Naru explained after Masako had been taken away by the second ambulance that we had seen that day. “Ms. Hara herself had said that it was an accident. That she was being careless. There was no ghost involvement.”

Of course, accepting that was too good to be true for that’s when Ayako moved to immediately disregard what both Naru and Ms. Hara said. “We can’t deny it any more. There’s obviously a force here.”

“Oh, are you referring to the one that you failed to exorcise?” Takigawa said sarcastically, causing Ayako to snarl. “We’re playing with fire; an unsuccessfully exorcised spirit is like a wounded bear.” He directed the second part at Naru. I frowned, this didn’t seem all that bad. So far, no one had died. Nothing awful had happened really. Masako had fallen, but she’d been alive, and the others just had some glass thrown at them.

Literally everything (except that one really stupid mission that Yukio had chosen because he’s a wussy) that the cram class had done had been like twice as dangerous at least. But this monk was nervous? I’m very confused? This wasn’t how things were supposed to go? It wasn’t really all that bad yet? Maybe my life had just been so full of danger before this moment that this seemed to pale in comparison.

I’m probably supposed to be acting like Takigawa or overreacting I guess if I was a normal teen who had never been confronted with something like this before. Dammit and now Naru had noticed my look. He was smart, he’d puzzle things out. Just like how I was puzzling things out about him. Damn, this was the fastest that someone had figured out I wasn’t quite what people thought I ought to be. I was seriously losing my touch.

It had been 3 days.

To shake myself out of the stupor I had found myself in, I decided to stir up some drama and get Naru’s stern gaze _off of me_. “So, what happened to Masako was Ayako’s fault.”

“Oh please,” she scoffed, although there was a small shred of guilt in her eyes.

Surprisingly it was Naru who tried to keep the peace between all of us. “Listen, from what I saw in the video it was just an accident.”

I turned on him, curious to see what he had that would explain this. “But accidents keep happening here,” I pointed out. “That’s why they say that this place is haunted.”

“That may be true, but there are simply not enough readings on the equipment to prove it.” He said, looking me right in the eye. He was leaning on the table and that lowered his height just enough to give me a chance to be eye level with him. His eyes were such a sharp blue that they seemed to stare into me and see all of my secrets. He was seeing something more than just my face. I wonder what he found. “There aren’t any temperature fluctuations, no ionic polarization, and the EMF readings are normal. Proof just isn’t there.” He said, his voice hard but his eyes were sharper.

I couldn’t read him at all, and that unsettled me. Kuroda – the queen of ruining moments between me and Kazuya – broke in, forcing Naru to look away from me and break out impromptu staring contest. “But Ayako was trapped in that room and I was attacked upstairs! Something also broke the glass, moved the chair, and erased the film!” she protested, looking just a hair over desperate.

“Like I said, I’m not convinced.” Naru responded, shifting his piercing gaze to focus on Kuroda.

“Maybe we’re dealing with a highly intelligent spirit that knows how to hide from your machines” Takigawa suggested awkwardly, looking almost nervously at Naru over my head.

Naru narrowed his eyes, “what do you really think?” he asked the two exorcists.

“It’s a residual haunting.” Takigawa said immediately.

Naru nodded his head in acknowledgement and turned to the blond priest. “And you, John?”

“Well, I’m not sure. Though I do agree that it’s become quite dangerous here.” John replied simply.

“Now, tell us what you’re thinking.” Takigawa demanded smugly, fully believing that Naru would cooperate. Even I could tell that that was a load of bull. How foolish. Somebody like Naru would never just give away what he was planning. If he was wrong, he’d look stupid. Someone like Naru wouldn’t be able to accept that.

“I’ll hold off on my opinion for now. I’d like to investigate this from a slightly different take.” He said, confirming my thoughts. Then, he simply walked away, the heels of his dress shoes clicking against the wooden floor. Monk made a face before turning to look at both me and John.

“So whatya think about this guy? He knows how to put on a show with all this equipment, but I’m not convinced that the boy wonder knows what he’s doing.” He said. I frowned, not liking how he was judging Naru based on his age. Just because he was still 17 doesn’t mean that he wasn’t knowledgeable or capable. I was renowned as the world’s best assassin at 13, even if none of them knew it. Age wasn’t always a factor

“Best get started then.” John said in response.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to set when John was prepared for his attempt at an exorcism. He’d gotten all done up in his little priest robes, and I was suddenly faced with a mini Father Fujimoto. It took a lot out of me to not laugh. He looked adorable, like a child playing dress up. Honestly, despite being older than both me and Naru, John easily looked younger than all of us. But, I had to admit that he did have a presence, even if he was reading from the bible instead of having it memorized like Bon, Shima, and Konekomaru had.

“The teenage exorcist finally makes an appearance.” Takigawa said as we all gathered around the monitors to watch John do his thing. He was standing in a classroom just in front of the teacher’s podium. He had a little bottle that he was spritzing around the room as he began to speak, bible clutched tightly to his chest. Oh, look at that, he actually did have it memorized. Good on him.

“Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name.” he arced his arm, spraying droplets of what I assume to be holy water all over the room. Note to self; don’t be near John when he’s trying an exorcism. Wait nope, he just opened the bible after doing the water thing. “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word, it was God.” He began reading, when suddenly, Kuroda tensed.

At first, I thought nothing of it, but then I heard it; cracking. The cracking of old wood was coming from all over the building, but mainly above John. “More strange noises.” Kuroda said seriously, looking over my shoulder. She was the tensest out of all of us. She must feel like she had a lot invested in this. Or… I wasn’t going to think about that. Takigawa was now leaning forwards, watching worriedly as John stood alone in that room.

“Wait turn up the volume,” he ordered, and not wanting to miss any of this, I did as asked, and fiddled with the dials like Naru had explained would adjust the volume. “Without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life.” John continued reading, seemingly unconcerned at the distinct cracking sounds that were in the room with him. Either that, or only we could hear them. I didn’t like either option. Maybe this was more dangerous than I first thought. Either way, I doubt 19-year-old John was expecting this on his first case in Japan. “And that life was the light of all men...” he continued reading, but I was no longer paying attention to John.

Instead, I was looking up at the ceiling on the monitor. It was warping in a very exaggerated manner. It was warping in a way that old brittle wood like the wood that made up the ceiling shouldn’t be able to do at all. “The ceiling,” I whisper, fascinated by the images the camera was showing me. Before I knew what I was doing, I was running out of the room, booking it through hallway after hallway in a rush to get to John. I _knew_ something bad was going to happen.

“Hey! Where are you going!” Takigawa yelled after me as he followed. I arrived just in time and through open the door.

“Look out!” I yelled, frantically staring at John as I internally begged him to react. I don’t know why I was so freaked out by this, but John _needed to get out of that room **now**. _

“Karma!” he yelled back, surprised.

“Move it! The ceiling’s falling!” Before I said it, I honestly couldn’t say what was setting me off. But as soon as I announced that the ceiling would fall, I knew that if John didn’t move _now_ he was going to be crushed. Crushed by the ceiling, because the ceiling was falling. His eyes widened as he saw the same thing that I did. The boards cracked and then, they were falling.

“John!”

* * *

The only light in the room was given from flashlights. Naru’s shone on the floor, and then up at the holes in the ceiling.

“I can’t believe this” Houshou gasped as he took in the damage that was in the room. It was pretty shocking, considering this had been one of the better rooms before it had collapsed.

“If Karma had not acted so quickly, I could have easily been injured or even killed.” John said after a moment, looking at me oddly. Gratitude shone in his eyes, but then they slowly drifted from my eyes to my ear, landing on the cross. He stared puzzled at my ear jewelry, and I had the oddest urge to cover my ear at his heavy gaze.

“In the interest of safety, I think we should call it for the night. Karma, you’re dismissed.” Naru said seriously, staring at the ceiling with a stony stare.

“Really?” I asked in surprise. Sure, it was dark out, but he’d let me go much later last night.

“Yes,” he confirmed.

Ayako spoke up next. “Alright, I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow morning. While there’s still life, there’s still hope.”

“Admit it and say you’re scared.” Houshou rolled his eyes. Ayako simply stalked off, closely followed by the monk.

John turned to me, a lost look on his face. “Well, seeing as I nearly lost my head a minute ago, I think I’ll take your advice and retire for the evening.” He said, glancing almost mournfully at the door.

I turned to Naru. “Are you leaving too?”

“Not yet. There are a few more things I want to investigate.” He says, wandering off with the only flashlight in tow. I didn’t need it, I could see just fine from the low ambient light. It was Kuroda I was worried about.

“Just try to be careful, okay?” I call after him. He doesn’t say anything more, just continued to examine the room.

* * *

[Sunday]

When I get there the next morning, it’s to see that Naru’s dark van’s back door is open. The back door opens up, so there’s an overhang that shades the inside, even though the sun is shining. Naru was sitting slumped in the back of the van, his black coat draped lazily over himself in a poor excuse for a blanket. Did he stay here all night? He’s certainly sleeping now.

I lean forwards, taking in the sleeping figure of my boss. Damn, he’s even more handsome while he sleeps. The hard lines in his mouth soften, and the furrow between his eyebrows that I thought was permanent seems to disappear. He looks younger; actually his age for once. In another life, he could have been a teenager just sleeping in his car to avoid the parents for a couple hours. “Naru? Did you sleep here last night? That can’t be good for you.” I say softly, gently trying to ease him back into the land of the living. I don’t know why I’m being all gentle about it, but I have the feeling that he didn’t get much sleep last night. He’s already a surly guy. I guess I don’t want to be the one who sets him off today.

He shifts slightly, his eyes popping open as he looks up at me from under his bangs. “Hey Karma.” He says, his voice is still rough from sleep. “What are you doing here at this hour?” he places a hand on his head and I briefly feel annoyed. He’s barely gotten a wink of sleep and he’s _still_ gorgeous. What the hell? I can lose sleep and just look more demonic. Not great for a low profile. Well, neither is my hair or eyes, but you get the point. Well I mean, I already don’t sleep a lot so there’s kind of permanent dark circles under my eyes, but this guy has none despite getting what I suspect to be no sleep.

“At this hour? It’s almost time for lunch, Naru.” I say, surprised. His eyes widen slightly, and his head snaps up to face me, getting a better look at his surroundings. He opens his mouth to say something, but he’s cut off by the arrival of Houshou, John, and Ayako.

“Morning!” Takigawa calls from behind us. “Looks like someone had a rough night!” He’s almost too bright, too chipper as he waves at

“Looks to me like someone’s trying to leave early.” Ayako says snootily, grinning at us.

Naru nods. “You’re right.”

“So, you’re finally admitting your expert opinion was totally wrong.” She taunts, feeling rather triumphant.

“Is that true?” John asks uncertainly. Bless this kind innocent boy.

Naru of course, immediately shoots down that possibility. “No. I’m leaving because I already solved the case.” He pulled out his laptop and flicked it on.

The monk looked confused. “So, you cleaned that school house… by yourself?” he asked, his expression revealing how dubious he was about that statement.

“No, I didn’t do that. There was no need to.”

Takigawa frowned. “What are you talking about?” he asked confused.

I was in the same boat as him. “What did you do?” I wonder aloud, looking at Naru for an answer.

“Last night, I compiled all of my experiments.” He said, clicking a few things on his laptop to open some windows with some graphs and numbers on them. “These are some surveying results. The school house is sinking. In fact, it sank 2.5 inches just last night.”

“It what?” Takigawa yells in alarm.

“It’s called subsidence.” Naru says as he looks at Houshou.

Ayako is not convinced and voices that fact. “Yeah? So what? You think subsidence is responsible for the phenomena we experienced?” she asks incredulously.

“This entire area is built upon reclaimed swamp land,” Naru points out. “When I looked into the distribution of wells, I discovered a large aquafer the passed underneath the school house. But when I checked the wells that were in the immediate area I found them all to be dry.”

“Which means what?” I ask curiously. So, this wasn’t paranormal at all?

“The soil here was weak to begin with, and since the water is dried up, there’s a hollowing effect happening underground. So naturally the structure built above it would be sinking.” He explains, looking me in the eye as if I’m the only one he’s explaining all this stuff to. I don’t know if I should feel important, flattered, or insulted that he thinks I’m stupid.

Because we have a perfect track record so far, Takigawa interrupts our moment. “So, you’re saying the glass, the chair moving, and the ceiling collapsing are all due to subsidence?”

Naru nods, “Yes, the floor on the eastern side of the building where the ceiling collapsed was 3 inches lower than on the westside.” He confirms.

My eyes widen, “3 inches?” I say in disbelief. Sure, that might not sound like a lot normally, but if you think about both in an out of context, it’s pretty much a fuck ton.

“Sounds like structural failure to me.” Takigawa admits. But Ayako isn’t quite ready to let things go yet.

“But what about the strange noises?” Anyone can tell that she’s almost ready to admit defeat. Naru’s theory has almost completely won her over by now. And really, it does make sense. Well at least it would if I didn’t have this awful feeling about Kuroda. Something doesn’t quite add up yet, and I just know that it has to do with her. I don’t know what she’s done yet, I don’t have enough information to.

“Probably the sound of the wood shifting.” The blue-eyed teen explains away, closing his laptop with a firm click. “We should have the surrounding area declared off limits. It’s so structurally unsound it might come down any day now.” Naru continues, getting out of the van and looking up at the building. All of our eyes are drawn to where his gaze has fallen, on the surprisingly imposing building. Just thinking of that thing coming down and us being in the way gives me the creeps. Someone could get seriously hurt – maybe even killed.

“I knew it! You can’t explain what attacked me, can you!” Kuroda yelled angrily, staring down my temporary boss as he calmly began moving monitors and cords. I silently did the same as I listened with anticipation for this show down. I wasn’t partial to Kuroda, it will be fun to watch Naru take her down a few pegs.

“If what you claim really did occur, then perhaps it’s the fault of a floating specter that’s following you.”

Kuroda trembles at the dismissal. “Just listen!” she pleads, “I’m not making this up!” He continues to pack away all of his equipment.

“Are you really leaving?” I ask quietly, surprised at the fact that I’m actually sad that he’s going. The guy was a grade A asshole, but he was kind of growing on me. His face didn’t hurt either.

“Yes, the job’s done.”

I nod, seems legit. But it’s weird, I get the feeling that we’re not done here yet. Something’s missing, and if Naru’s troubled expression is anything to go by, he knows that too.

“There is a spirit here.” Kuroda says suddenly, her glasses reflecting so much light that even I’m unable to see her eyes. Her expression has gone stony. Something’s wrong. “I know it.” She insists.

Naru though, is fed up and sleep deprived, so he shuts her down. “No, there isn’t. I have scientific evidence to back up my claim.

“Did you ever consider that maybe the spirit is avoiding your tests?” she demands harshly, almost desperately.

“Then exorcise it yourself. That should be easy for someone with your skills.” At her humpf, he moves away. “There’s nothing more for me to investigate here, so I’m leaving. End of story.” He puts the last of his things in a box.

“Hmm, it’s a pity really. The magic is gone, now that all of the ghost stories have been proven wrong. All the mystery of this place, gone in an instant. I’ll have to tell Keiko and Michiru, they cared about all that stuff the most. The ghost stories just gave this place an air of mystery and fun.” I ponder, looking around the room in a vague disinterest. I had to say, that I was a bit disappointed too. So much for getting a foray into the paranormal. I guess I’ll have to wait until another day.

“Maybe so.” Naru says lowly, looking at me with a weird look in his eyes. Of course, that’s when the cracks begin again. And like always, I was the first to notice. Unfortunately, everything went down too fast for me to even scream out a warning. For anyone really. The windows just shattered. Kuroda screamed, and then the entire building begins to shake violently as things collapse around us.

In that moment I’ve never been more afraid, and that’s what kills me.

“What the hell is going on!” Ayako yells over the loud sounds of thumping.

“Well it’s more than just the building sinking!” Takigawa yells back.

John looks at the ceiling. “Thumping sounds, that’s another one of Tisane’s criteria.” He shouts to be heard over the loud shaking of the building.

The doors are slamming frantically open and closed, and Naru was just staring at everything happening, with his mouth gaping open. He was shocked, he didn’t know what to or what was happening. What on earth was happening? This was so many kinds of not okay I really can’t right now.

“We need to get out of here, now!” Houshou yells, moving to shove Ayako and John towards the door. Kuroda was already running. That was what shocked Naru out of his stupor.

“This is it! Everybody out!” he yells, his voice booming. I didn’t even know that he could be that loud. Then he turns to me, “go Karma!” he says.

“But what about the doors?” I yell back, glancing nervously at how they were swinging wildly. I didn’t fancy trying to slip through, with the force that they’re flying at, if they closed on someone there would definitely be broken bones.

Takigawa picks up a chair and throws it through the door. “Leave that to me!” he shouts, breaking down the rest of the doors. “Over here this way!” he calls as we all followed him out of the building, dodging falling debris as we went. After what seemed like forever, we collapsed outside of building, panting and flushed with adrenaline.

“Are you okay Kuroda?” I heard myself asking once everyone was out of the building.

“You’re bleeding, let me see your hand.” Ayako says gently, pulling Kuroda’s hand into her own so that she can get a look at it. She examined it for a moment, “it’s okay, the cuts not too deep.” I looked over at the wound to confirm her diagnosis. She was right, there was barely any blood at all. Kuroda was just spooked.

“What was that?” Houshou demanded, glaring harshly at the teenager that I had the pleasure of calling boss for the past couple of days. “And don’t try to feed me that sinking theory again. That was a full-on poltergeist, wasn’t it?” Oh wow, he was angry. I looked calculatingly at him as Ayako wrapped some bandages around Kuroda’s hand.

“That sound wasn’t just the creaking of an old building! Something was definitely banging on the walls.” Ayako accused, joining Houshou in glaring at Naru. Naru for his part, was just staring up at the building and silent. He had his back to all of us, and he was so stiff, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“That means we’ve already witnessed 4 of the 9 criteria that was laid out by Tisane.” John added.

“Just goes to show that we can’t depend too much on technology.” Ayako snaps, standing up from her kneeling position beside Kuroda. She was all fired up. “For a minute there I was actually going to believe you and your phony results.” I don’t know if it was just the adrenaline or maybe these people were just really prone to anger, but everyone was getting worked up.

That was when Takigawa seemed to get a handle on himself and calmed down. “Stick around Naru,” he said, placing his hands behind his head in a relaxed pose, “You can see how the real professionals do things.”

“Maybe it’s time _someone_ goes back to school.” Ayako sneered. Then, the two began to walk away, probably going to try their hand at exorcising the spirit. The problem was, I wasn’t so sure that that was confirmation of a spirit at all. Sure, the knocking sounds were weird, but didn’t anyone notice that this happened almost right after Kuroda had her freak out about spirits?

I raised an eyebrow. “What’s with them? I haven’t seen them do anything productive yet.” I remark, surprisingly defensive. Like I said, the narcissist had grown on me, and I was honestly offended? On his behalf? I turn to look at Naru, suddenly noticing that his clenched fist was covered in blood. My eyes widened, “Your hand it’s–”

“It’s nothing serious.” He cuts me off. “It’s just a scratch.” I move to protest, but he doesn’t let me get a word in edgewise. “I will be fine. You should just tend to Kuroda.

“Naru–“

“I’d appreciate it, if you’d just leave me alone for a little while. I’m so mad at myself I could throw up!” he snarls. He purposely stalks off in the opposite direction, and I decide to just leave him alone. He needs to cool off for a bit.

* * *

“You’re not going to watch the monk’s attempt with the rest of us?’ Ayako’s voice drifted over mockingly from behind me. I had gone back to the base to finish taking down the rest of the shelves that we’d been forced to abandon when the building shook.

“No, I’m not.” I snap, angry at the nerve of this woman.

“Hey what’s up, Karma?” John says out of nowhere, handing me some cables. “Do you mind if I give you a hand?”

I smile at his kindness, he didn’t have to offer, but because John was a genuinely nice guy, he did anyways. “Oh, I’m okay. I’m just taking some things out.”

“Then please, allow me to help you. I insist.” He says, picking up some of the microphones.

I shook my head, putting my hands up and smiling slightly awkwardly. “Really I’d rather do it myself.” I insist.

“You’re still buying your bosses explanation?” Ayako askes incredulously. I turn around and glare at her.

“Do you have any proof that he’s wrong? If so, then let’s hear it. I’m all ears over here.” I snap, getting angry at her blatant mockery. So, what if his hypothesis was missing a couple facts? We all knew that it couldn’t be so cut and dry. I didn’t like how she was acting. So, what if we were young? God fucking dammit, she was just as annoying as the Kyoto Trio had been once upon a time. I honestly thought I was done with this.

“Alright now, calm down!” John tried to placate me, but I was angry.

“No, I’m going to do this now. What is your damage?” I demanded, glaring at the burgundy haired priestess. “You’ve been against us since day one. What do you have against teenagers? It’s not about age! Naru is a genius in his own right and I’m attending a reputable university for business at the age of 16. It’s not about age, it’s about experience. I know for a fact that Naru has been doing this for years because one of my schools ended up taking one of his cases and I’ve read the notes.” I was breathing heavily at the end of my rant.

She looked slightly stricken, but I really didn’t care. She was being a bitch and I was going to tell her about it. She needed to stop being ignorant and get over he bias. It was people like her that stopped innovation. Young people have plenty of ideas that could change the world, but they are always harshly judged because of the fact that they were young. “I–” she began but I wasn’t done yet.

“I still fully believe that there are no spirits involved, and I actually think that we’re missing something very important that will clear up this entire case. So, hold your horses, priestess, you’re not as important as you think you are. A little perspective would be nice.” I hiss. “My expertise may not lie in ghosts or spirits, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not more useful than you have been up to this point.” A little harsh, but I have some good points. I’ve set up equipment and basically saved John. So far, Ayako has failed an exorcism and wrapped up Kuroda’s hand.

Internally I winced slightly at the pieces of information that I dropped (okay but also – I really need to stop giving away all of my secrets when I rant in anger) during that little rant, but I doubt that anyone besides John would notice those pieces. He was already suspicious about my earrings, but he hadn’t said anything yet.

Both Takigawa and Ayako had their eyes wide open as they stared at me in shock. I mean, up until that moment, they’d only ever seen me react coolly or with confusion. Sure, I’ve had my little grumpy teenage moments, but I’d never attacked them like Naru had. Now I was directly lashing out at them, and for Naru at that. I hope he doesn’t find out about this, it would make him even more insufferable if he knew what I said in his defense.

“I’ll just uh… go ahead.” Takigawa said awkwardly before walking up to the front of the classroom and beginning to chant what to my ears was gibberish. Ayako stood beside him with her arms crossed while me and John held equipment in our arms and began to leave the room. Ughh, geeze Naru, stop pouting and get back here to tell these idiots what’s up. I don’t know how much more I can take of this.

“Are you religious, Karma?” John asks suddenly as we’re walking down the halls of the school house. “Because I couldn’t help but notice your earrings. Well, that and the frown of confusion at Naru’s remark about how I’m a priest.” Dammit. I had hoped that John wouldn’t say anything.

“I really don’t know much about ghosts or the paranormal right now. I’m still learning I’m afraid.” I say instead of directly answering his question right away. “I’m not religious, it’s just that there are plenty of things that don’t like the cross. It made my brother feel better about not going to the same school as me.” I admit softly. He hums noncommittedly.

“Does your brother work with the Vatican? I couldn’t help but notice that you bear the symbol. I’m sure if Naru knows as much as he says he does, he’s noticed it too.” He smiles softly, shifting the microphone in his arms to readjust the weight of it. “I uh, also didn’t catch how long you’ve been working with Naru? You seem to know him well, especially if you know about his past cases.”

Well wasn’t that just a load to unpack. I look down at the equipment in my arms, trying to formulate an answer that wouldn’t reveal too much. “Yes, my brother does indeed work with the Vatican. His foster parent was Father Fujimoto, so he got into the business rather early. And as for how long I’ve known Naru, well I actually only met him a couple days ago. His assistant got injured in an accident and he asked me to be his temporary one for this case. I just happened to go to school with my brother. He was the one who took over Naru’s case when it was discovered that it wasn’t a spirit anymore and instead a demon.” John nodded sagely at my response, seemingly understanding.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what is your brother’s name? I might have met him before - I’m sure he is just as kind and wonderful as you. Thank you for answering my questions.” He said. I smiled, that flatterer.

“Thank you for your opinion. You might be the first person to call me kind though. And his name is Yukio Okumura.” I said. We spent the rest of the walk in silence, eventually splitting up at the stairs briefly.

“I just set the microphone up on the second floor.” John called as he walked down the stairs to meet me.

“Thank you, but you know I can do this stuff by myself right?”

He waved his hand. “Ah, no worries, mate. I’m gonna look around a little bit; see if I can find some more clues.” He says as he turns to walk down the halls. He quickly disappeared into the darkness that was almost too thick for my eyes to see through.

“Oh, well be careful.” I called softly after him. Now, I’m alone with my thoughts. I’m sure that I made the right decision in waiting here for Naru, I still need to puzzle out who he really is, and why I know him from somewhere. He just looked so familiar. But, was he even going to come back? I mean, that equipment was expensive, and he’d just left it. I was broken out of my thoughts when I heard footsteps approaching from behind me.

I whip around, the “Naru?” already flying from my tongue. When I saw that it was just Kuroda – who was clutching at her injured hand like it was much more severe than it actually was – I let out an inaudible sigh. “Oh, it’s you, Kuroda.”

“Any news?”

I nearly facepalm. “Oh right. The monk and the others are making their rounds right now.” I tell her.

“What about Kazuya?” she asks. Why does she continually refer to him by his first name? It was rather informal, for only having met him for a couple days. At least I had the excuse that I was his employee for my nickname. Although, he didn’t use any honorifics with my first name, even right off the bat. That was odd for someone who was trying to appear like a native.

“I don’t know where he is.” I admit softly. I sigh, “ah man, are there really any spirits here?”

She looks at me sharply. “Yes, I saw them.”

“Oh, I know. You’ve made that clear.”

Our standoff is interrupted by the arrival of the priestess. She seems to have recovered from my little dressing down from earlier. “Well they’re not hear anymore. The expulsion was a success.”

I clenched my fists. Looks like nothing has changed. “Well we’ve all heard that one before.” I grin, smirking at her flustered expression. She was just so easy to rile up. Childs play.

“Well this time I’m sure of it!”

Kuroda looked down, resting her injured hand over her heart. “They’re still here. I can feel them. In fact, there are many spirits trapped here.” Oh, here we go again. Does she ever give up? She just looks like even more of a desperate hoe now. Ayako saw what I did (fucking finally) and turned to face her.

“Are you still pretending?” she demanded harshly. “Give it a rest. We’re the professionals here.”

“Unless I’m mistaken, you haven’t done anything.” Kuroda hissed.

I raised an eyebrow at the two girls. “Well unless _I’m_ mistaken, you haven’t either Kuroda. Well besides harp at us about how the spirits of old soldiers are trapped here.” I comment plainly. She shoots me a glare, but there’s a glint in Ayako’s eyes as she glances at me through her eye lashes.

“Well we’re good now. Ayako’s may have been a complete failure, but mine wasn’t.” Takigawa said confidently as he and John walked up to join the three of us. He was no longer in his ceremonial robes.

Ayako gasped in offense, “excuse me?”

“Well it’s true isn’t it?” Takigawa smiled.

“Don’t take credit for my work!”

“Same to you.”

“Get over yourself!” The two of them were in each other’s faces, not surprisingly, arguing over me like always. But I’d had enough of their childish quarrelling for today.

“Would you shut up!” I holler angrily, but I’m quickly shushed by John.

“Shh, I hear something.” He says softly, and we all look to the ceiling. There’s the sound of footsteps above us.

“Someone’s here.” Ayako breathes out.

Monk grumbles beside us, “I know,” he says harshly.

The steps begin to approach us, and Takigawa takes this chance to run up the stairs. “Do you see anybody?” I call to him. I don’t get a response right away, but then he calls back a minute later.

“Nope. You must have imagined it.”

“Are you crazy? All of us? I definitely heard something. You heard it too, right Monk?” I say to him as he walks down the stairs.

Ayako rolls her eyes as she sidles up to Monk’s side. “It was just the wind.” She tells me flippantly.

“I am sick of this! You didn’t get rid of ‘them’ either, did you.” I growl, surprised at the anger in my voice. But it was late, Naru wasn’t here to explain anything to me, and weird things kept happening. “After what you said to Naru, this makes you look so stupid. I don’t remember Naru coming up with any lame excuses. Do you? Funny how the adults are acting like–” I probably would have continued with my tirade, but that’s when the footsteps started again. This time, all around us.

“It’s back!” John gasps. Suddenly, the lights lining the halls break one by one as they near us, throwing us into complete darkness. The others began to glance around violently, trying to adjust quickly to the darkness. Thank whatever deity you believe in for night vision, right? “This is the most activity we’ve seen yet.

“It sounds like there’s more than one.” Monk agrees. “It’s too dangerous in here, let’s get outside.”

I nod, “I’m right behind you.” I turn to Kuroda. “C’mon Kuroda, follow me!” I say beginning to confidently run through the darkness just a little bit behind a slightly uncertain Monk. Even then, his long legs kept his stride wider than my own. We’re just about to make it out of the hallway, when suddenly, two shelves rattle so hard that they tip over.

I’m too slow to stop it, and they fall, catching both me and Kuroda. “Karma!” Takigawa yells.

At that point I lost consciousness.


	3. File 1 - Part 3

When I wake up, I’m laying on the ground. Only, it’s not the ground. I’m surrounded by darkness, accept for a bright disk of white glowing stuff underneath me. In the air, there are small glowing orbs just fluttering around at their leisure. A hand touches my forehead, drawing my attention to whoever it belonged to.

 _Naru_.

He’s looking down at me kindly, a softer look in his eyes than I’ve ever seen before. Wait, no I’ve seen it before. Never while I was awake though. This was where I’d seen Naru’s face before! In a dream! When Mary had taken me, I’d had a peculiar dream where a black-haired boy with the most beautiful royal blue eyes had told me to keep going and that help would be arriving soon. But I’d never even seen Naru then. How could I just dream that up? Was this one of the weird psychic things? And then I’d seen him again when I’d been on that mission.

“I guess you’re back now. Good.” I pause for a moment, smiling, but then I panic and sit up again. Dreams are not what I need to be thinking about right now. “After you left the poltergeist came back worse than ever!” The fast movement wasn’t good, and my vision began to swim. I groaned and gripped my head as a piercing headache shot through me. Suddenly, Naru’s arms were wrapped around me, and he gently lowered me to the floor.

“Go back to sleep.” He says gently.

I roll my head to the side to look at him. “What’s with you? You’re acting so nice.” I must’ve been pretty out of it, because the next sentence that flies from my mouth shocks me. “You know you’re even more handsome when you smile like that.” I remark. I close my eyes.

* * *

[Monday]

[Day 5]

“Karma! Wake up!” Monk calls in the distance. My eyes snapped open suddenly to find Ayako, Monk and John standing above me and looking all concerned.

“I think he’s going to be alright guys.” John says with his serene smile plastered on his face.

“Hey Karma, how do you feel?” Monk asked.

“We were really worried there for a minute.” Ayako says softly, looking down at me with a softness in her gaze that I hadn’t seen before. I was in Naru’s van (which was still here apparently) and the sky was just beginning to lighten. Wow, how long had I been out for?

“You were out for quite a while there. It’s already 4 o’clock in the morning.” Monk said worriedly, leaning against the side of the van.

I groaned before sitting up. “Sorry. Did Naru ever come back?” I ask, my voice slightly hoarse.

“Nope.” Then it was just a dream. Unless it was a psychic ability, but so far, Naru hadn’t confessed to having any powers of his own. He’d relied purely on his technology and science. But it can’t be. There’s no way that he’d ever smile like that.

I stand up suddenly, briefly blacking out as my body readjusts to the new position. “Where’s Kuroda?” I gasp out as Ayako steadies me gently.

“She went home,” Ayako assured me, “which come to think of it, isn’t entirely a bad idea. The exorcisms have had no effect, and it’s possible that even our own safety could be compromised.” She looks at me sadly. Of course, since my brain is still slightly sleep addled, and I don’t quite know how much damage the bookshelves had actually caused, I wrecked her emotional normativity with my lack of a filter.

“So, you’re running away?”

“Need I remind you that it was your own boss who ran away first? He probably ran home and cried himself to sleep!” she said, suddenly very loud and getting in my face. I leaned back slightly, blinking at the sudden demeanor change. Woah, mood swings.

“That is ridiculous.” I frowned. It really was. It just wasn’t in his character, and I don’t think that narcissists were even capable of running away. Their pride simply wouldn’t allow it.

Monk looked at me sadly, “Well if I were to guess, he ran away because of us. We did kinda gang up on him yesterday you know.”

I nod sagely, “yes but you do know you’re referring to the world’s biggest swollen headed, stuck up, self-absorbed, holier than thou, narcissist.” I reminded everyone with a straight face.

“Maybe Kazuya is at home stewing with unbridled rage as he makes straw effigy dolls of each of us.” Said John, who decided to add in his two cents. We all stared at him for a moment.

“What the fuck, John.”

He blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. We stared at each other for a couple of moments. Just basking in the silence of the early morning. Then as one, we all burst out into laughter – slightly hysterical laughter, but laughter nonetheless.

* * *

[Monday]

[Morning]

“Karma!”

“We heard something bad happened to you.”

“Fill us in on all the details.”

When I arrived at class the next morning, I was immediately bombarded by questions from Michiru, Keiko, and Takehashi. I looked at them confused for a moment, “oh, where did you hear that?” They shouldn’t have known about that. This happened in the middle of the night last night. They shouldn’t have known that it happened considering the only ones that were there…

“Kuroda told us. She’s been bragging to the whole class about it all morning.” Keiko says, but I’m no longer looking at her. I’m too busy looking past their shoulders at Kuroda who was surrounded by a group of interested students as she told her story.

“And you’ll never guess what happened to us! Kazuya just called me up out of nowhere. We talked for like 10 minutes.” She was saying with the first expression of genuine elation that I had seen on her face. I immediately turned to my ‘friends’ shocked.

“He called?!” I asked, placing my hands on Michiru’s shoulder.

She stared at me strangely. “Yeah last night.”

“Last night? He’s been missing since yesterday afternoon. What did you talk about?” I demanded. He had bothered to check up with my classmates but not his assistant? That asshole! What the fuck could they be talking about? Why had he contacted them?

“Uh, you know, like this and that.” Michiru said, staring at me wide eyed. “He asked us what we knew about the old school house and stuff.”

“He asked a lot of questions about Kuroda.” Keiko agreed. I let go of Michiru and thought hard. What was Naru up to? I was just about to head to my seat when the teacher arrived in the class room. He looked honestly surprised as he stared at all the students in his room. No idea why.

“Oh, there you are.” He said in a relieved tone. “Kuroda, Karma, you’re wanted in the headmaster’s office.” I spun around shocked, wearing an identical facial expression to Kuroda.

* * *

“Hello?” I called as I opened the door to the office. Inside, standing near the window and looking dramatically over his shoulder was none other than the narcissist himself; Naru. The others – Monk, Ayako, John, and even Masako – were all sitting in chairs arranged to surround the desk at the back of the room. What’s everyone doing here?

“Please take a seat.” The headmaster said, gesturing to the two empty seats beside John.

Naru, standing at the edge of the principal’s desk, turned to face all of us as he began to speak. “Now this makes up everyone who has been involved in the case thus far. This should only take a few minutes.” He said before moving to the front of the room. He gently tugged the blinds over the windows and turned on an odd light that was sitting on the desk in front of us. It pulsed slowly, an easy breathing rhythm, and the red glow didn’t strain my eyes.

What was with that light though? It’s just… really strange. I feel weird.

“I’d like everyone to focus on the light.” Naru began, “now control your breathing so it’s in sync with the light. Very slowly, relax your shoulders. Concentrate of your breathing.” His voice was low and relaxing. Suddenly it was hard to think or focus on anything, and all I could feel was sleepy. My eyes drooped, hooding the golden orbs as I stared at the light. My first instinct is to guess that it has something to do with what happened last night and that I was just tired. The involvement of the strange light and Naru told me differently.

“Now start counting your breaths. Breath deep, nice.” His voice sounds really far away right now. Not far away as in underwater, but more like he was standing at the opposite end of a cave. “Tonight, the chair on the second floor of the old school house will move. Tomorrow we will all meet in the laboratory.”

Then suddenly the trance was broken by Naru wrenching open the heavy curtains. I winced at the sudden bright light, squinting at the teen. What was that? What just happened? Was that… hypnosis? But why? There were too many questions and far too little answers to even be mildly appeasing. “That’s all I need for now. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Ugh, I’m tired.” Monk groaned. Ayako agreed with him – surprisingly.

“So am I.” They were all rubbing at their eyes and stretching despite the fact that all of that couldn’t have taken more than a couple minutes at most. For some reason my brain immediately flashed to the chair. Why would he tell us that it was going to move? That was rather odd.

“Naru!” I called as I ran after him down the hallway. “Where did you go yesterday?” I slowed to match his pace, following just behind him. 

He looks over his shoulder and says nonchalantly, “no where special.” Then, he changed the subject, “I heard you got injured.”

I waved it off, “it wasn’t a big deal.” And it really wasn’t. It was enough to knock me unconscious, but there was no lasting damage, and even the soreness had disappeared due to my accelerated healing. “So, what was with that light?” I pester.

“Shouldn’t you be heading back to class now?” He asked suddenly, almost snapping but I could hear the undertones of concern in his voice.

“I’m not too worried about it.”

He raised an eyebrow, “so you’re skipping class because you want to be stupid.” Eh? The nerve of this guy! I spent all day yesterday defending him and _this_ is the thanks that I get? I was smart thank you very much! Even someone like him should be able to tell that. I was a 16-year-old at a university. Even if I wasn’t ‘on his level’ or something, I was still damn smart. Parapsychology wasn’t the only thing that I was studying. This asshole!

“Hey! Hold on a second. There was something I wanted to ask you.” I needed to know if Monk and the others were just joking with me. That dream was really weird and not knowing what it was about was leaving me severely unsettled. “Did you come back last night?”

“To… the school? No. Why?”

“Oh. No reason. Well, time to get back to class.” I said hurriedly, backing away from Naru. Damn, so it really _was_ just a dream. That means either I’m some kind of psychic or Naru is. Naru being psychic – I think the thing is called astral projection or something – seems a lot more likely. I can’t be half demon _and_ psychic. That would just be ridiculous. Naru ignores me and just continues to walk out the door.

Damn, hate seeing him go, but I do love to watch him leave.

Ugh, and that smile from the dream. That smile could even make me swoon. I wonder why he doesn’t do it more often. Wait, shit. Do I? Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I have developed a fucking crush on the little piece of shit. Why do I always go for unattainable guys? First the older guy who died and then became a demon and then died again, and now a narcissistic jerk of a ghost hunter. What even was my type? You’d think being gay would be much easier, but I wasn’t so sure anymore.

* * *

[Monday]

[Evening]

After classes, I walk to Naru’s van. He’s already there, and I notice that he looks even more ethereal in the red rays of the sunset. I need to stop noticing that. He’s sitting in the open back of his doing something or another, and he doesn’t notice me there for a moment. He has headphones on and is looking at his open laptop. Does he ever _not_ look pretty?

Well that’s beside the point right now. I still can’t get that damn smile out of my head. It hangs over him like a shadow every time I look at him.

He turns to face me. “Were you the one who set up the microphone on the second floor last night?” he asked. I get defensive.

“Yeah? We were getting good video, but I thought we should have a mic in there, just in case?” I say not all that certainly. Did I not make the right call? I have to admit, this _is_ out of my area of expertise. Did I do something wrong or that he didn’t like? Damn this suspense was killing me.

“Well you did an excellent job, Karma. It picked up some very interesting noises.” Well how about that. The narcissist himself lowered himself to complimenting me. This is a momentous moment. Normally, I’d say something to point that out, but for some reason I was just frozen and staring at him. He noticed, and stopped doing whatever he was doing to stare at me in an accusing manner. “What’s up.”

“Oh, that was it.” I said, waving my hands. But then I realized. “Wait there was one thing that I wanted to mention. You know that old bookcase? The one that fell on top of me? Well it was warm, and I remembered you saying that poltergeists caused things to heat up.”

“I’m impressed you remembered that.”

I make a face at him as he turns around. There he goes again, insulting my intelligence like it’s so different than his own. I resisted the urge to hiss at him to overcompensate because that would be childish.

“G’day, Karma.” John said as he walked out from behind the side of the van. At John’s arrival, Naru removed his headphones and turned to face the both of us.

“Now, let’s get started.”

Naru had us place a chalk outline around the chair on the second floor. The one that was supposed to move by this time tomorrow. John was setting up the last camera to watch it so that we would have footage of what happened. I turned to where Naru was standing outside of the room. “Oi! Naru! What are you setting up over there?” I asked curiously, leaving John to fiddle with the camera and tripod.

“This is a radar,” he explains.

“Wait I thought they only used those things on airplanes.” Well jeez, no wonder he thought I was stupid if this is the kind of shit that I’ve been saying to him. I sound like a complete idiot! “So why do you have one?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t work.” He said solemnly. I stood up from where I was leaning to look over his shoulder, placing my hands on my hips in what I’m told is a ‘mom’ pose.

“But I’m still your assistant, right?” I point out.

“Yes, so take some of that plywood over there and start boarding up all the windows and doors in that room.” He says seriously, handing me a hammer. Ugh, what is his problem? Does he have to keep me in the dark about every single detail? I mean, it’s not that much of a hardship for me to board these things up. As far as physical strength and endurance goes, I can outdo Naru easily. It was just the principle of the matter that was ticking me off. With John helping me as soon as he’d finished with the cameras, the boards were done in no time at all, although from the looks of John, he must have thought it was forever.

He wasn’t anywhere near as tired as I would have expected, but his light panting wasn’t exactly inspiring any confidence either. That’s when Naru hands me a marker. “Both of you take this and sign your names on the boards.” He instructed. While we did that, Naru had been taping a blank sheet of paper over the seam of the boards that covered the entrance to the room. “Now, sign your names on this paper. When you’re done, you can go home.”

“So, I assume there’s a point to all of this.” I say as I move to scrawl ‘Akabane Karma’ alongside John’s own neat printing.

“You’ll find out tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?!”

John places a soothing hand on my shoulder. “Kazuya knows what he’s doing, and I trust his judgement so, maybe we should just sleep on it like he said and find out tomorrow.” He suggests, looking curiously at my signature. It was a combination of kanji and English print. I was quite proud of how confusing it was – and that particular handwriting had taken months to fully nail down. Nagisa was one of the few who was confident in translating any of my notes since he’d been there when I’d created the codes and writing style I use now.

“Maybe so,” I cave, “but I’m tired of being left in the dark. I think I’ll look for some reading materials later.”

* * *

[Tuesday]

[Day 6]

I walked to the old school house before the sun had even risen. The sky was a glorious mix of dark blues, but I didn’t have the right headspace to really appreciate it. I didn’t get much sleep last night do to going through my sources and getting some more information on ghost hunting terminology. It would have been pretty humiliating if I wasn’t so damned determined to not appear like an idiot around him.

I got to the old school house within plenty of time, but I arrived to see a rather odd sight. Naru wasn’t alone in leaning over his laptop at the back of the van. The tall assistant was also standing there with a crutch under one of his arms. Aw man, I feel like this is going to be awkward. While it was in no way my fault, the fact remains that the last time he saw me he had to be taken to the hospital. Not even for legit reasons either. I mean, I’ve sent plenty of people to the hospital, but never because I got involved in someone else’s accident.

Dammit Mai. That girl is a walking disaster I tell you.

“What are you doing here so early?” Naru’s voice cuts through my thoughts and I scowl on reflex.

“I had some affairs to handle and didn’t end up resting for long. I was curious to see how the experiment turned out, so I hit two birds with one stone this morning.” I said flippantly, looking up at the tall man out of the corner of my eye. He was just a bit taller than Monk, and if I remembered correctly, his name was Lin.

“You’ll have to wait a bit more. Everyone will be here soon.” Naru stated.

I blinked in confusion. “Everyone? Even the monk and Ayako? But what for?” I wonder aloud. Then I remember my manners and turn to Lin. “Are you feeling better?” I ask. Instead of offering a reply like what would have been the polite thing to do, he glared stonily at me. Um, excuse you? I wasn’t the one who bumped a shelf into you. If anything, I should be the one that is angry at Mai. I pushed _her_ out of the way, and the building just _happened_ to shake and knock over the _other_ bookshelf.

These people. Where on earth did they even come from?

* * *

“So, what’s the plan for today, Naru?” Monk asked jovially as we all made our way to the classroom. Lin was even joining us a camera filming in his hand.

“Yes, let’s hope for your sake that you don’t embarrass yourself yet again.” Ayako joins in with her typical mocking tone. Naru and Lin both look completely calm.

Naru turned to me and John where we were standing beside the boarded-up room on the other side of Naru. “Now, would you two please confirm that the boards you signed hasn’t been tampered with.” I shrug before moving over to look at the paper where John and I had done our last signatures last night. A cursory glance proved that it was the same paper and that my signature hadn’t been imitated. The red ink stood out clearly on the paper in what must have looked like gibberish to the others.

“Yeah okay. Looks good to me. What about you John?”

“Fine.”

Then out of nowhere, Naru produced a crowbar and told us to move out of the way. Lin had been filming for the past couple of minutes, but now he put the camera down slightly. “Alright,” he said as he got an odd gleam in his eyes and swung the crowbar, destroying and prying the boards away enough so that we could all enter in one fell swoop. I looked at him shocked; I hadn’t been aware that he possessed this much strength.

That’s kind of hot.

We filed into the room, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the circle of chalk that I had made last night. It was empty, and a quick look around the room revealed that it was there laying in the corner, just out of view from the camera.

“Oh my Lord!” John gasped as he took in the room. “The chair, it’s moved.”

“Indeed, it has.” Naru said creepily, moving towards one of the tables in the room.

Ayako was confused, “so what exactly does this prove?” she asked.

“Would you care to explain?” Monk demanded.

Naru looked at all of us, “I’d like to thank you all for your cooperation. I’ll be finishing this investigation today.”

“Let me get this straight,” Ayako said, poised with her hands on her hips. “You’re claiming to have solved the case… again.”

Naru nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“The ground sinking?” I said, putting forth my two cents.

“Yes, all of the issues that the headmaster originally brought to my attention can be explained through ground subsidence.”

Monk wasn’t having it. “Yeah? Then what about the disturbances we saw the day before yesterday?” he challenged. Naru remained calm and responded. His cold eyes boring holes into Monk and slanted dangerously.

“Now those were from a poltergeist.”

“You’re not making any sense!” Monk said frustrated.

“What else can he do? We all know that he can’t exorcise it.” Ayako broke in. “Right?”

“There’s no need for exorcism in this circumstance.” Naru said, looking down at his computer. “Watch this and you’ll see.” He turned the monitor towards us and gestured for us to all look at it. Obediently, all of us crowded around the monitor to get a look at what Naru wanted us to see. The monitor’s screen was green due to the night vision camera that was used, but it was still easy to see the chair in the chalk line.

For a long time, nothing happened. Then the chair leg began to twitch, as if it wanted to move, and it slid backward. Then it turned and fell over on it’s side before sliding away further out of view. “What was that?” I ask, moving subconsciously towards the monk.

“Well it’s obviously a poltergeist.” He told me, looking concerned.

“Humans are to blame for over half of the reported poltergeist attacks every year.” Naru said, staring at the monitor with us. Does he mean like a prank or something?

“But no one could have gotten in there

“True, we did seal off every entrance. I even had John and Karma sign their names on each panel so we could tell if someone had tampered with one.” Naru explained.

“If someone had attempted to replace any broken pieces, there’ little chance that they could have replicated my signature. Let alone Karma’s.” John turns to me briefly to comment on how my signature is “a mess that I don’t want to even try to decipher.” Ayako nods in agreement.

“This only proves that I’ve been right all along!” Kuroda cried, her voice wobbling in her unique emotional way.

Naru shook his head. “I placed a hypnotic suggestion into everyone’s mind yesterday that this chair would move before we met here this evening.” Oh, in the headmaster’s office then. That’s what that light was for. “So far, this method has never failed me. And I have no reason to believe it will today.” He said as he placed his hand on the wooden chair, righting it.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, “yeah, but that still doesn’t change the fact that no one got in here.” I point out. Can he just get to the point already? I want to know what’s happening. He’s been 3 steps ahead of me this entire time, and to be quite frank, I’m kind of sick of it.

“Poltergeists are a form of latent mental powers, often by people who have an unconscious craving for attention. When stress is introduced, a defense mechanism reacts in the brain. Hypnotic suggestions can become a reality in these types of situations.” Naru lectures, like a teacher teaching a class. Craving attention? Well I know who that is. As one, we all simultaneously turn to look at Kuroda who had found herself standing a couple feet away from the group of people crowded by Naru.

“So, you’re saying that I’m responsible for this?” she said, her voice weak as she stared wide eyed at us. Like she couldn’t believe what was happening.

Naru walked towards her until he was standing right in front of her. “From the moment I met you, I knew you were trying to impress me. For example, you were trying to claim that you could see spirits that still remained here from the war. However, there is no evidence of this area being bombed during the war, or of this building being used as a hospital. In fact, there was never a hospital built on this land, period. That means you were either mistaken, or intentionally lying to me and the others.” He said harshly, looking down at her.

“I’m not a liar,” but even I could tell that her resolved was weakening.

“At first I thought you were just pretending to be spiritually sensitive.” He continued on, not listening to her weak protests and just plowing ahead anyways. “So, when things started happening that could only be explained as a poltergeist, I became quite perplexed.” He turned to look at me, his eyes slightly hooded and I was forced to suppress my blush at the expression that had formed on his face. “My scientific experiments and Ms. Hara’s readings kept turning up clean; we determined there were no spirits.” Now it was back to Kuroda. I wonder why he looked at me when he said that. “That means the haunting was of human origin.”

“Poltergeist activity is often caused by children in their early teens – at 17 it isn’t unheard of, but rarer than you’d expect – most cases involving teenage girls in particular. It’s a form of psychokinesis that can occur during periods of great stress.” Naru was not pulling any punches when he began to explain in depth just what had caused the poltergeist to happen.

“Ever since middle school you were known by your peers to be sensitive to spirits. But once it was proven by me that the strange phenomena happening here was in fact due to ground subsidence, you naturally lost whatever confidence of faith you had in your psychic abilities. This caused you immense anxiety because it went against your own beliefs. And although you could see the merits of my evidence, you still wanted to believe the spirits were to blame.” Kuroda began to shake as the explanation continued, the attack on her person beginning to visibly affect her. “You told yourself there was no other way. You simply couldn’t face the truth.” Kuroda’s trembling increased in its violence and she finally lost the battle with herself and let her tears begin to drop. She buried her head in her hands and she cried quietly while the rest of us watched.

Nobody moved to approach her in any attempt to console or comfort. “You had no idea you did it.” Monk said sadly, just watching as the 17-year-old cried. I didn’t move to help her like I might have two days ago. No, she was the one responsible for that stupid bookshelf falling on me. That’s the second time in less than a week. I could have gotten a head injury or something. Did she really thing that trying to get us to notice her because of her psychic abilities would work on anybody?

There are so many people who wouldn’t give a rat’s ass it’s not even funny.

“I firmly believe that you’re a latent psychic Kuroda.” Naru said, an odd sort of awkward gentleness in his voice.

I broke the silence that followed. “And that means…”

“Latent psychic is someone who has supernatural abilities. She’s not aware of it, but she has some level of PK. I’ll just say this for your sake, Karma. PK is short for psychokinesis.” In the last part of his sentence he dropped his voice for some reason. My eyebrow twitched as I glared at him. I knew that okay! I wasn’t stupid dammit.

“Oh wow. Thank you. I’m so grateful.”

Naru kept on explaining, ignoring my sarcasm. “She believed that there had to be spirits present in the old school building in order to attract attention from those around her. In order to be who she was.” Um yeah no? We were all attending a fucking _parapsychology_ class. No one gave a rat’s ass if she could see spirits anymore, because there were a lot of psychics enrolled in that course. Yet she still tried as hard as she did all for what? Attention?

“You know I think I can understand. It’s only natural right?” I say, a little harsher than I had intended. “Think about it, everyone wants to be special in their own little way. The desire to stand out in a crowd and be unique as a person. In your case Kuroda, that would be your ability to see spirits.” Kuroda had stopped crying and was now peaking through her fingers at me. I mentally sneer at her. A load of bullshit. She looks like she might actually thank me, gotta fix that. “Of course, getting so worked up about it that you cause glass to shatter and harm people isn’t ideal, but you know, you do you Kuroda.” There is significantly more bite in that statement and it _was_ intentional that time.

“Is everyone satisfied with that explanation?” Naru asked in a monotone, ignoring the fact that I was almost verbally attacking the girl. Huh, he must not have liked her either. I was right in that matter.

Ayako stalked forwards, “hold on a second. On that account, her elevated stress levels came _after_ you gave us your little theory on ground subsidence or whatever it was. What about me getting stuck in that room or the video being erased? Explain that!”

Kuroda clenched her fists and looked away from us as Naru began to talk once more. “The reason you became trapped in that room is simple,” he picks up a nail from where it was sitting on the table beside him. “There was a nail in the floor.” He said, showing the nail off much to Ayako’s shock.

“What? That’s it!”

He nodded, “I had noticed it that day, but I didn’t mention it because I didn’t feel like it was necessary at the time.” So, it was a nail that he had been holding that day. When did he have time to pick that up out of the rubble?

“So that means that someone did that to me on purpose?” Ayako asked shocked. Then a moment of realization dawned on her face and she whipped her head to the side to stare accusingly at Kuroda. To her credit, Kuroda looked like she felt guilty for her actions. Looked. “Was it you?”

“You were just trying to get back a little at Ms. Matsuzaki. After all, she had just verbally attacked you outside just moments before.”

“What about the video?” Ayako demanded desperately.

“The video tape was intentionally erased. When you became trapped, we all left the base. There was plenty of time for someone to slip in and erase the tape.”

“This is ridiculous.” Ayako muttered, staring in awe at Kuroda who had looked down in (feigned) shame.

“What are we supposed to do now?” Monk asked. “The headmaster hired all of us to get the site ready to continue construction.”

“I’ve planned to report the following story to the principal: the old school house was haunted by those who died here during the war, they’ve all been exorcised, and the building is now clean of all paranormal activity. That sound okay, Kuroda?” he said, his expression softening as he looked at her. Although, I couldn’t help but notice that his eyes still remained just as sharp as ever. Kuroda nodded and looked down once more.

“That’s very kind of you Naru. But will you really lie to the headmaster? He deserves to know the real story.” Masako says, looking up imploringly at Naru like she was unused to being refused. People were always coddling her it seems. Little Miss Perfect who could do no wrong. I didn’t get to interact with her much on this case due to her accident, but I could tell that her personality was going to clash with mine no matter what I do.

“Kuroda is doing an excellent job of supressing her emotions now. I don’t think it’s necessary to embarrass her any further.” He said kindly. I was surprised that he was acting this kind. It seemed so unnatural for him to take other people’s feelings into account that when he did it was a once in a life time scene to see.

In one moment we were looking at Kuroda and Naru, and the next Ayako had plastered herself to his side and was looking at him oddly. Well not oddly, more like she wanted to eat him. “Oh, I had no idea you were so sensitive. Do you have a girlfriend?” She flirted smoothly. I turned to Monk and mimed gagging noises. God, this is worse to watch than Bitch-sensei trying to woo Karasuma-sensei had been.

“I’m not sure I fully understand your question.”

“I’m saying I wouldn’t mind trying to get to know you better. Even though you are quite young.” She says, blatantly eyeing him up and down like he was a piece of meat.

Naru closed his eyes and looked like he wanted to pinch the bridge of his nose. “As much as I do appreciate the offer, I must decline.” Naru looked up, a small smirk on his face as he said his next line. He was _amused._ He found this _funny_. “I’m too used to looking at myself in the mirror.” Instantly we all started laughing – even John.

Ayako’s face was red with frustration as she turned away from Naru to yell at us. “Let’s get serious and decide who is going to take the credit for this job.”

Naru in a surprise attempt at keeping the peace, announced, “Everyone contributed equally. Are we all okay with that?” There were many glances around at each other as we decided what our opinions on that were. Eventually, everyone nodded in agreement, just like Naru probably knew that we would. He would be a terror to play chess against. “So, Karma.” He said, looking around the room at the equipment.

“I already know, Boss.”

“Alright. Lin? Let’s start breaking camp.”

“Right.”

* * *

“That wasn’t such a big deal after all.”

“Admit it! You were scared in there.”

Ayako and Monk bantered with each other as they walked away from the van and down the road. Everyone had reluctantly chipped in to help us bring out and pack away all of Naru’s equipment, which meant that it was done very quickly despite just how much of it that there was. I stood watching everyone leave as I held a tripod in my arms.

Well that was it then. The investigation was over, and as such, so was my employment at Shibuya Psychic Research. In all that time, I hadn’t had the chance to puzzle over Naru’s secrets. I had to say, I was a little disappointed.

“Shouldn’t you be heading to class?” Naru asked from behind me as he pulled the tripod from my arms gently. I turned to him.

“I was going to help pack up everything. After all, you are still my boss for the next few minutes. Plus, with my previously perfect attendance record, I’m sure it will be fine. The teachers love me!” and by that, I mean that they would absolutely _love_ to have a class without me in it. I’m the type of little shit that outsmarted teachers and annoyed them to no end by not paying attention but knowing everything anyways Not having my smartass there means that they won’t have to deal with me. Besides, right now everything is just review of stuff that I’d learned from Kyoya years ago. I could miss an entire week of classes without worry right now.

“I can handle it. Why don’t you head back to class. I’d hate to see you plummet even further into the depths of dumb.” Why I oughtta.

“Jeez you must really enjoy putting me down, don’t you.” I snarl, “I’m a lot smarter than you take me for. I get that you probably passed university a long time ago, but I’m 16 and studying three subjects so that’s pretty damn impressive. It’s not my fault that I didn’t know I was going to be ghost hunting! See ya later, jerkface.”

And then I was running to class so that I could get there in time for my first one. Why does he have to be so cold? He’s acting like he doesn’t even care. Well… he probably doesn’t… I wish I could declare that I’m going to pretend that the stuck-up narcissist doesn’t even exist, but that would just be lying to myself. I still need to find out just who he is and why he keeps showing up in my dreams.

Like it or not, we’re connected and there’s nothing I can do to change that if I don’t know why we are connected in the first place. Why did he show up in my dream in the first place all those years ago? Why did he pick me to be his temporary assistant when he could have tracked down Mai? Why was he so secretive, and why did he look like he’d seen a ghost (wOW pun intended) when I called him Naru for the first time?

I wouldn’t be able to leave this alone. I can already tell, today is not going to a fun time to try and sit through all of my classes. I’ll probably end up ditching half of them anyways while I probe the net for who he is.

* * *

I’m in my accounting class staring out the window at the old school house when it happens. The cracks start out muffled and then suddenly **boom.** The entire structure just… comes down. All the windows shatter simultaneously and a giant crack appears down the middle of the building. The eastern side has completely collapsed, and all my classmates crowd by the windows as they try to see what happened. My eyes are impossibly wide as I subconsciously cover my ears to try and protect them from the noise. The school building was just… destroyed.

* * *

A few days later…

“That’s amazing Kuroda! So, the stories about ghosts were true after all!” one of the many boot licking snots from my parapsychology class was saying as every commented excitedly about the fact that the old supposedly haunted school house had collapsed. I just sigh and sit in my seat.

Takehashi and the others had found me though, and were all gathered around my seat as they watched me with puzzled expressions on their faces. “Why are you sighing, Karma? It’s us who should be sighing! Kazuya’s gone forever and you didn’t think to ask for his address?” Michiru pouts, puffing out her cheeks and she half-heartedly glares at me. I roll my eyes – of course she would be upset about that. “We couldn’t even find his phone number in the book.

That’s when the speaker in the classroom goes off. “ _Attention Akabane Karma, you have a telephone call._ ” It announces. I look up sharply, shocked that I would be getting a phone call. If it was from anyone even vaguely connected to something that required my direct involvement, then Kyoya would reroute them over to text or call my cellphone. No one went through the school, let alone a university to call me. _“Please report to the front office immediately.”_ Who could be calling and why?

I stand up and begin to make my way over to the door, not caring about what the teacher might say. I’m 100% positive I had just watched them play flappy bird for the past 30 minutes while we all gossiped about the old school house. They heard the announcement just like I had. It would be fine.

I practically flew through the halls as I ran to the headmaster’s office. The curiosity was killing me – I needed to know who was calling through the school. When I picked up the phone, the voice that answered me was one that I never would have expected.

“ _Hello, Karma.”_ Kazuya Shibuya says as I pick up the phone.

Outwardly I flip my shit a little by flailing so that my surprise doesn’t reach my voice. “To what do I owe the pleasure… Naru.” I say calmly into the receiver while the receptionists give me odd looks.

_“Your fee.”_

My what now.

 _“Your money for the hours that you worked for me. If you don’t want it, I can always give it to charity. I’ll send the check out today so you should have it soon. And I was curious, I was wondering if the classes you took would allow you to have a part time job. If you’re interested, I have a position open for you. It’s just some office work, but it would be good experience for you.”_ He rambles on for a bit.

Colour me surprised. He actually liked me enough to want to keep me around. Now I wouldn’t have to resort to stalking while trying to figure out the mystery that was Shibuya Kazuya. But wait, shouldn’t he know that I’d realistically need a part time job to pay for my education? Maybe he just wasn’t familiar with it because he no doubt got a scholarship due to his status as a genius. I’m actually pretty lucky that I have enough money for all the courses I’m taking. “Sure, that sounds great.” I find myself saying almost against my will.

_“Then come on down to my office and fill out some paper work. It’s in Shibuya. And thanks for all your help. You were an excellent assistant. I’ll be seeing you soon.”_

And that’s the story on how I came to work for Shibuya Psychic Research, or SPR if you wanna know how us industry insiders say it.


	4. File 2 - Part 1

[July]

[Day 1]

“Wow, what a cool house!” I found myself saying as I stared up at the giant house that we had stopped in front of. It looked almost like a mansion, and was full of windows. The old-fashioned house was beautiful, in its own way. Personally, I was more a fan of the ‘broken-down city’ aesthetic than the ‘giant house in the woods’ aesthetic, but I had to admit that it was nice. Nice enough for me to appreciate verbally. Naru was considerably less impressed, but at least he didn’t say anything about my own awe.

I mean, can you blame me? I’d never had to chance to see a house quite like this. The Smith house might have come close, but they had open brown fields, and this was forests and green. The look and feel of this place was quite different from that first case. There were so many stairs, and things were both very bright, and very… off. Again. I couldn’t really describe what it was, but the thing is that something was wrong. Just not as wrong as a demonic presence would be.

But we were investigating something paranormal here, so I mean, that makes sense. It was different from the feeling of Kuroda, the Jikininki, and the demons of Gehenna. It even felt different from Ma- her, who was very similar to how the demons of Gehenna felt. This… this was hollower. Not in the way that it lacked emotions, but it felt more like a shadow. Less corporeal than a demon who had a physical being. This made me think of a remnant. Not the whole being.

How odd. Was this what ghosts felt like?

The client met us at the door, and led me and Naru into the building and down a dark unlit hallway into a lovely and tastefully decorated living room. “I’m sorry to drag you out like this. It’s quite a drive from the city.” She said kindly, her wide eyes staring at us almost tiredly. “This is my sister in-law Kanna, and my niece Ayami.” The client said, bending down and placing her hands on the shoulders of a small child.

She looked almost like a doll. Not a doll in the way that Masako or Shiemi did, but her wide eyes and perfect little hair do combined with her perfect little dress just made her look darling. She was clutching and equally darling doll to her chest. Its porcelain face stared emotionless at me and gave me a fundamental sense of unease.

The sister in-law had short close-cropped hair in a deep burgundy. More wine coloured than Ayako’s had been. Her lipstick matched, and she looked like a rather serious business woman despite the fact that she wore casual but classy clothing. She put a lot of effort into her appearance and she took pride in what others thought of her. She bowed her head slightly in both a show of respect and acknowledgment at her name.

“My brother is on a business trip overseas at the moment, so it’s just us three girls in the house all by ourselves.” She explained as she hugged the small girl to her.

Three days ago, Noriko Morishita, came by the office to hire us to investigate her house. She claimed that there was something strange about it. The furniture would rattle all by itself, that she’d hear knocking on the walls of rooms when she was the only one home, and doors would seemingly open and close all by themselves. I mean, it sounded like a pretty standard haunting to me. “As you can imaging, we’re pretty frightened.”

“I’d like to have a word with your boss.” Kanna broke in abruptly, staring coldly at both me and Naru. I get that we didn’t look like much, but I was beginning to see why Naru kept such a cool and professional front around clients if this was what he had to deal with all the time.

He stepped forward, “my name is Shibuya Kazuya, I own the company.” He said seriously, his face molded into a perfect emotionless mask. I stood beside him with my face settled into a small smirk as my gold eyes flickered around, taking in everything. We made quite the picture – two teenagers, one dressed in black office attire, and the other with wild red hair, unnatural gold eyes, a smug trouble maker expression and wearing completely causal clothing that only served to make me look my age. Wonderful, and very professional.

The duo of Lin and Naru look quite imposing, but with me in the office as well, it must make quite the first impression. “Oh, I uh,” Kanna said nervously, looking taken aback. It really wasn’t that uncommon for people to react like her, considering the lead investigator is a teenager. People seemed to have weird opinions on teenagers and their capabilities. It’s like just because we’re young we’re not professional or polite. I’ll have you know that the most insufferable people are usually the middle-aged ones or elderly people. Middle aged people thing that they’re so much more mature than teenagers, and elderly people can be grumpy and stuck in the past.

Kanna didn’t really fall into either of those categories, but she did fit the category of disapproving adult which wasn’t age specific past being above the age of 20. Combine Naru’s age with the fact that he’s extremely self confident (to the point where you can tell from just looking once at him – yup, no double takes were necessary for that) and his assistants were a middle aged serious and silent man, as well as a teen that looked like a delinquent, well people usually didn’t react well to that.

Kanna crossed her arms and moved on. “So anyway, what are we looking at? Do you really believe we have a ghost?” she asked skeptically, looking expectantly at the two of us.

“We will explore all options in our investigation.” Naru said diplomatically. Skeptical clients were always my favourite.

Not.

* * *

“How’s set up of all the equipment looking?” Naru asked Lin who was sitting at the table that was covered in shelving and monitors and happily typing away at his laptop. We had been setting up the base for a couple hours now, building shelves and placing equipment carefully around the room. There was a pile of boxes in the room against the walls, and I honestly couldn’t remember if they were ours or if they had been here when we got there or not.

“All audio and video feeds are transmitting clearly.” Lin said in a soft voice as he clicked away and fiddled with equipment. Even after my hiring and Lin’s healing, the man didn’t really like me all that much. I don’t know if it was just my attitude or the fact that I was involved in his injury, but I knew for sure that he had something against me. He went out of his way to not talk to me and he was always ready with a glare.

“Are we sure that we set up the camera in the east hallway correctly? There’s a blind spot that’s making me nervous.” I said, staring critically at the one monitor that displayed the aforementioned camera. Lin looked up shocked at me for a moment, before opening his mouth to answer with what was probably a scathing critique.

“Well, well, well, look who’s sounding like less and less of an amateur each day, aren’t you, kiddo?” I whirled around and looked at the doorway where Monk and Ayako stood. They arrived together, it seems. I grinned at their appearance. Ever since that first case, Naru had kept in contact with all the others and had me call them in when we got this case. I believe that he secretly liked them, but he’d never say it or show that he did. He was proud like that.

“Hey Monk!” I call, smirking despite myself at the duo.

“Hey!” he saluted me lazily. Grinning brightly as he walked further into the room and came to a stop behind me.

Ayako rolled her eyes, “I see you’re overdoing it again with all this fancy equipment.” Neither of them were members of SPR, but they were still willing to help us out when their specific skills were needed. “Let me see,” she said, stalking over to the file that Lin was working on. “Clearly the work of an earth spirit,” she said confidently. Just like last time, the self-styled shrine maiden was convinced that it was an earth spirit. Her judgement should always be taken with a grain of salt, although in my opinion at this moment in time, so should everyone else’s, save Naru.

So far, none of them had really done anything worthy of me recognizing their skills. Masako had pointed out that there were no spirits at the school house, but I didn’t exactly like her and she wasn’t even here right now. Takigawa had a lot of bark, but so far, he hadn’t exactly done much either. Manual labour and a quick save were all good, but his exorcism technique seemed at least theoretically correct. John seemed pretty legit, if his knowledge of the Vatican was anything to go by. But it was slightly out of date if he didn’t recognize me for what I am. My cover had been blown quite a bit ago, so the community should know what I look like.

“Maybe it’s human?” I suggest, looking down at the notebook that I had produced out of thin air and was currently doodling in. “I mean, Noriko’s story seems to point towards poltergeist activity, and half of all poltergeist activity is caused by humans. Woman under extreme stress in particular. In this case, it can be attributed to someone not getting along with her sister in law.” I explained, making it look like I was looking over notes in my notebook, but really, I was just adding some more detail to some sketches that I had of both Ayako and Monk.

Although, if they looked closely enough, they’d see the frayed edges of the papers due to watercolour warping. The number of times that I had painted Naru would be embarrassing if anyone bothered to look through the book and see the last few weeks worth of sketches. But if they looked farther back, they’d find various sketches and paintings of my past going back all the way to Class E and even further back to my original trip to the Fabricated World. It was a thick notebook with many loose pages taped in.

It gave me something to do with my hands when I was talking to people, and as long as no one asked me to explain the mug shot like sketches of a bunch of preteens, then things would be fine. The demons would probably be a bit harder to explain… and maybe the bloody scenes… yeah no one would be getting their hands on this book anytime soon. Most recently, I had added pictures of the dream scape I had found myself in. That would be hard to explain.

“Like Noriko?” Monk asked, looking at me skeptically.

“They do seem to be a bit unpleasant.” Ayako agreed.

I shrug, closing the book with a snap. “Hey, it’s just a suggestion.” I said flippantly.

I’d thought that Naru hadn’t been paying attention to our conversation, since he tended to ignore the others as soon as they opened their mouths. But apparently that was wrong, because he chose that moment to comment. “It’s amateurish at best. In cases where a human is to blame for a poltergeist, the culprit is usually a teenager or an adolescent child. Considering the only case you’ve been on so far included an exception to the rule, I’ll let this slide, but both Noriko and Kanna don’t meet the age requirement. It is true that sometimes adults are sensitive to the paranormal, so I’ll take that into consideration in my final decision.” He said, not one looking at me as he spoke.

“Like I said, just a suggestion. I know when I’m outclassed, boss.” I say, moving towards the door of the room. I’m still learning dammit, he shouldn’t be expecting so much from someone who was still new to things. It was like he knew that I knew more than I was letting on. But it still doesn’t change the fact that he was being a major jerk.

As I walked out of the room I was stopped by Noriko. “Oh, Karma. Perfect timing, I’m taking up some lunch to Ayami. Would you care to join me?” she asked. Well then, I could probably get some more information from them. This would be a good opportunity. I best take it.

“Oh wow, that sounds great!” I said cheerfully. I have no idea why Noriko thought that _I_ would be a good person to have around children, but apparently, I was less threatening than I originally thought. “Ayami is such a cutie pie.” I internally winced at my word choice – I was perhaps putting it on a little thick. “If you had to say, does Ayami take more after her father or her mother?”

“Hmm, probably her mother.”

“Really? Because she doesn’t look like Kanna at all.” We were walking up the stair by the door, and I was getting my chance to see more of the upstairs. Naru still seemed to think me incapable and clumsy, so he’d only had me set up equipment on the first floor, citing that I would probably trip and break something if I tried to go up the stairs as the reason for that decision.

Noriko looked back at me, “well that’s because Kanna isn’t actually Ayami’s birth mother.” She said patiently. Oops, maybe I struck a nerve. Oh well, too late now. “My brother had her with his previous wife.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” I backtrack, but stop as she waves me off.

“Don’t worry about it.”

We come to a stop outside of a door. The lights aren’t on in the hallway, and the only light source is the big windows at the stair well. Everything looked normal. Too normal. But I couldn’t pay too much attention to it because Noriko was knocking on the door. “Ayami, lunch time!” she called cheerfully as she pushed open the door to the room. “Karma is here too!”

I took that as my cue to poke my head into the room past Noriko and smile brightly at the child. “Hey Ayami! Hope you’re hungry.” When I opened my eyes and actually got a good look at the room, I saw Ayami sitting on the floor looking at a book. She was wearing a pink frilly dress and had her little creepy china doll sitting beside her. She stared widely at us before getting up and taking her little doll with her.

She approaches me before holding up the doll’s hand. “Nice to meet you.” She says. I bend down, kneeling on one knee so that I was closer to eye level with the child. I shook the dolls hand.

“Oh hello, and you’re…?” I trail off, letting the child fill in the blank.

“Minnie.”

I smiled, if a bit awkwardly. The doll was weird, and I wasn’t sure if it was just my dislike for dolls or something actually being wrong with the doll. It was definitely something I’d want to keep an eye on anyways. Noriko smiled, “Ayami, your new book! Are you enjoying it?” she asked in a very parental voice. You know the one, the one that’s like a mix between being condescending and being baby talk. Not something that I liked to hear, but something that I was probably going to end up doing in the next few days because of the child.

The child that I didn’t know how to handle properly because children usually didn’t like me, and I didn’t like children.

At Noriko’s question, Ayami got an odd look on her face and her entire body tensed up. She backed away, pulling the dolls arm out of my loose grip. Noriko immediately bent down to look at Ayami. “What’s wrong?” Noriko asked worriedly.

“Why don’t you have some food, ‘kay?” I suggest weakly, as Ayami turns away from us.

“I’m… not hungry.”

I wonder what came over her so suddenly.

* * *

[Day 1]

[Evening]

We were situated in the living room once more as Naru set up his little experiment. The client and her family were situated on the couch while I stood behind it along with Monk and Ayako. Naru was planning on doing the hypnotic suggestion experiment again, to make sure that this wasn’t a poltergeist. Despite it being my suggestion, I don’t really think that it is a poltergeist anymore. But we had to be certain.

“Focus your eyes on the light.” Naru instructed, as the weird orb light started pulsing with its customary red glow. “Try to match your breathing to the glow of the light, nice and slow.” In the case of human poltergeists, they use a power that they are not aware of, so when a suggestion is planted into their subconscious, they will do it. “Tonight, the vase will move. A small glass vase to be exact. It will be sitting on the table that is in front of you now.”

I flicked on the light, breaking the trance that the three of them had fallen into. I took the time that it took them to recover from the hypnotic state to really look at the family. This may be pretty paranormal, but often times – at least with demons – the family that was being bothered could reveal a lot about the situation just by how they were acting. Sometimes they just didn’t include the details that they thought weren’t important but really revealed everything. Well, at least to someone like me.

Noriko was sitting on one end of the couch with Ayami situated on her lap. She had her arms loosely wrapped around Ayami’s shoulders and came to a rest in Ayami’s lap. The doll sat in Ayami’s lap in a perfect mirror of the two human’s positions. Kanna sat at the opposite end of the small couch with her ankles and arms crossed in a very closed off manner. She was uncomfortable. This only proved that Kanna was new to the family, and she was still uncomfortable with something.

Whether that was the idea of the ghosts, our involvement, or Ayami, was still up in the air.

“That’ll be all. Please try to spend the rest of your evening as you would any normal night.” Naru said before turning to Kanna. “Kanna, the key.”

“Oh right.” She stood up suddenly, moving to do as Naru asked, but in doing so she looked up at Naru. He was holding the small glass vase. Her eyes were drawn to it and she, as well as Ayami and Noriko, were unable to look away from it. The suggestion worked.

I placed the vase on the table and drew a line of chalk around it. If the vase moves, then the cause is human. If it doesn’t… the cause is unknown.

* * *

[Day 1]

[21:00]

“Any movement?” Naru asked as we both looked over Lin’s shoulder at the monitor.

“Not yet.”

We stood in silence for a moment, and I was about to reach into my pocket and pull out my sketchbook to finally get started on my sketch of Lin, when the door was suddenly flung open and Kanna stood there panting harshly. “Come quickly,” she gasps. I glance at Naru for a split second and then we’re both running out the door after Kanna, Ayako and Monk following closely behind us. We burst into Ayami’s room and come to a rather surprising sight.

Every single piece of furniture had been moved away from the walls. “I came up here to put Ayami to bed when I found all the furniture like this!” Kanna explained as we looked around the room. Ayami was standing in the centre, clutching her doll tightly to her chest.

“Everything’s moved away from the walls,” I whisper and Naru snaps his head in my direction. I don’t really pay too much attention to it as I’m too busy staring at the room in shock.

“What’s going on?” Kanna demands, “I thought you people were supposed to stop these things from happening.

That’s when Ayako utters utter bullshit. “Are you sure the little girl didn’t do this?” We all turn to stare at Ayami, who just looked away from our gazes.

“There’s no way that she’s that strong! Even if she was possessed by something, there’s a limit to what her body can do realistically.” I say defensively. She didn’t do this. There’s no way.

“You’re right. The rug’s been moved too. Even I don’t have that kind of strength.” Monk says, kneeling on the ground with Naru as they examine the rug and the edges of the bed. I have that strength. But I am half demon and that’s why I would be able to do it. Monk may be strong, but this was beyond a singular human’s abilities.

“I agree,” Naru tacks on, “If there’s a human capable of this. I’d love to meet him.” I mean _technically_ he already has… I’m half human. It counts. Shut up.

“I was merely throwing the option out there.” Ayako says snootily, but she was ignored because Ayami had gotten up and Kanna was now holding her hand.

“It wasn’t Ayami.” She said, staring at me with wide eyes.

I pat her head in reassurance. “Aw, we believe you.”

I might have said more, but then a scream came from downstairs, and all of our heads immediately snapped towards the door at the sound. We ran downstairs, but I was the first one there. “What’s wrong?” I demanded as I skidded to a stop in the door way. I look up and my eyes widen. Every single thing in the room had been flipped upside down. What on earth was this spirit capable of?! I bend down and lift up the edge of the rug to reveal that even the carpet had been flipped over.

“Classic poltergeist activity.” Monk observes as he looks around the room.

Ayako is completely unworried though, “it’s a simple earth spirit. I’ll have it driven out of the house by tomorrow morning. You’ll see. Night everyone.” She called flippantly, heading back towards the room where she was staying while we investigated the house. We watched her go.

“Where does she get her confidence.” I wonder aloud as I watch her disappear down the hallway.

Naru has his thinking face on and Monk notices this. “What’s up Naru? You look like you’re on to something, care to share with the rest of us?” he asked.

“Don’t you think this response is a little quick?” Naru says suddenly, “paranormal phenomena usually have an aversion to outsiders. Usually any signs of the phenomena back off in the first 24 hours of an investigation.” He explains. Well that was news to me. I mean, it makes sense why that would be, but at the same time, this spirit could really just be aggressive?

“Really?”

Monk nods. “If you ever watch those TV shows that cover the haunted houses, usually nothing substantial ever happens on camera right. Normally the spirits shy away from the visitor initially. But that’s not the case here. I think it’s full on hatred.” He declared confidently. I had the sudden oddest urge to declare that I don’t watch TV just to be a little shit. But I suppress that urge.

“’You thinking the same thing I am?” Naru asks, looking at Monk out of the corner of his eyes.

“Yeah. The house is aware of our presence and it’s quickly getting angry with us. Couple that with these increasingly brazen attempts to scare us off, we’re dealing with a poltergeist that means business.”

Naru nods at that assessment. “We might have a hard time with this one.”

I frowned. “It hasn’t done much yet, even if it does seem to be escalating. This seems rather minor in comparison to bodily harm. So far it hasn’t attacked anyone. What does that mean?” I remark, turning to look expectantly at Naru. His frown deepens as he looks at me oddly.

“Usually, spirits don’t go for bodily harm immediately, Karma. We should be glad that it hasn’t come to that yet.” He says seriously, looking at me with a strange look in his eye. It was like he was trying to dissect me until he could see who I really was; what I was hiding. But I mean, the spirit really didn’t seem all that bad to me. Maybe demons were just a lot more dangerous. They went right for bloody injuries off the get go. Compared to that, flipping some furniture while no one is in the room seems a little anticlimactic.

Although if Monk’s reaction to things meant anything, this was considered a pretty severe haunting? How even… I wonder how these ghost hunters would react to a demon. After all, a shifting chair freaked them out an awful lot. Naru’s voice broke through my thoughts. “From now on, Ayami’s bedroom and the living room are off limits, at least until the end of the investigation. Ayami will stay in Noriko’s room, from here on out.” He declared as we all stared at the living room and everything being upside down.

* * *

[Day 2]

When we woke up the next morning, the first thing I did was check on the vase for Naru. The vase had not moved an inch since it had been placed there. Does that mean that it’s actually a spirit here? Either way, the cause of the phenomena wasn’t human. Ayako had performed an exorcism in Ayami’s room that morning, and was confident that it had worked and that the spirit was no longer there. I wasn’t so sure, but I let it be for the time being. We’d stay another day to be sure, and when it was proven that it didn’t work, we’d still be here.

Naru liked to be thorough, and I didn’t trust the self-styled priestess’ abilities. I like to think that Naru trusts my judgment enough to at least note my uneasy feeling, even if I’m not psychic.

* * *

[Day 2]

[Night]

“Naru, here’s the temperature rundown of ever room in the house.” I say as I hand him a clipboard with some neatly written charts. Ever since I had seen Naru writing that case file in English, I had made sure to write anything I handed him in English. He must be from an English speaking country, which would explain why I never saw him reading kanji. Romanji seemed fine, but I needed to exercise my English skills anyways. I’d hate to disappoint Bitch-sensei by letting my languages get rusty. Naru raised an eyebrow at the English script, but he didn’t comment on it.

“Ayami’s room is a few degrees cooler than the rest.” He noted as he began to type on his laptop. He pulled up the schematics for the house and a bunch of other diagrams popped up that he scanned over quickly. “The house itself looks to be structurally sound. All the floors are flat, there’s no sign of subterranean water loss, so the ground is solid.” He remarks as he makes a couple of notes.

“Do you think that there really is a ghost?”

He pauses in his typing and stares pointedly at the screen. “The chances of that are increasing.” Well then. We sit in complete silence as neither of us move for a moment. The moment is broken only by a scream coming from the kitchen. In a split second, both Naru and I were moving. We ran down through the hallways and eventually arrived at the kitchen just in time to see a wave a fire fly through the air. The heat was pretty intense – I was surprised that it came from the stove. The fire should not be swirling through the air like it was.

“Kanna!” I yelled as I ran into the room and swooped her out of the way, putting myself between her and the flames. She may seem like an uppity bitch (nothing compared to Ayako) but she was human and one of the clients. I was fireproof, and not even some poltergeist would be able to change that. Demons outrank ghosts in power… I think… yes, totally. The fire came from a stove, while it had impressive heat, it would do less damage to me than to her. My point stands.

“The flames just started shoot out of nowhere!” she gasped as she cowered behind me. Naru bolted past the both of us, shooting out an arm to hold me back when I made an attempt to put myself before him.

“Just get back!” he yelled, pushing both me and Kanna away from the flames. “Takigawa!” he yelled over his shoulder as the flames swirled dangerously closer. Naru might have ended up burnt if Takigawa had not entered with a fire extinguisher at that exact moment. During the time it took Monk to put out the flames, Noriko had arrived and was doing her best to console an understandably distraught Kanna. Ayako had come it too, still in her ceremonial robes.

We were all breathing heavily, now that the adrenaline was beginning to flush out of our systems. Monk had collapsed against the cabinets while I was left on my knees beside Naru. I didn’t usually react like this to an adrenaline crash, but considering Monk was looking pretty bad, it would be odd for me – a normal teenage boy??? – to not be affected. Too many questions from an ever-observant Ayako. She had no qualms with calling people out.

Naru stood close beside me, looking around the kitchen with a critical eye as he took in the burnt stove still covered in the chemicals from the fire extinguisher. I let out a breath and looked up, trying to make my own observations about the room, when my eyes were inexplicably drawn to the window above the sink. It only took a second for me to see it, and when I did, my blood went cold. There in the window was the silhouette of a small child. It was just watching us. “Naru! Someone’s out there!” I yelled as I stared transfixed at the silhouette.

It faded into the darkness a fraction of a second before Naru began moving. To his credit, he moved before I had even finished my sentence. He rushed towards the window and leaned out to look. We had opened part of it to let out the smoke from the fire. Some fresh air was good.

He looked around for a moment before twisting his body to look back at me. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes! Someone was looking through the window. A little kid.” I couldn’t take my eyes away from where the kid had been. It was too reminiscent of the Fabricated World and its horrors, even if most of them hadn’t been humanoid. The chilling feeling that had settled over me at the sight of the child was just plain terrifying. It took a lot to make me feel like this. I didn’t like it.

Naru sat on the counter, still in the position that he’d fallen in when he rushed over to the window; one leg up on the sink and the other stabilizing him by being planted on the floor. He was staring at me with a look in his eyes that I couldn’t decipher.

* * *

“Okay Minnie, time for me to tuck you in!” Ayami said sweetly to her little doll. I was watching through the crack of the door as Ayami finished her little before bed routine after the excitement of tonight. Naru and Bou-san stood behind me; watching. Bou-san was less creepy in the way that he leaned against the door frame, but Naru was being himself and looking out of the side of his eyes as he practically breathed down my neck.

Ayami was tucking in the doll when Noriko pushed past us and flicked on the light. “Sweetie?” she asked, moving to kneel in front of the girl. “Ayami? Were you outside?” Noriko asked, her voice panicked.

“No.” Ayami looked confused.

“Karma saw someone looking through the kitchen window. Now I’m not angry, I just wanna know if it was you.” Noriko continued, looking the child in the eye. I stood awkwardly in the door, resisting the urge to shuffle backwards slight as Naru was standing _right_ behind me. I wasn’t accustomed to seeing adults talk seriously with children without there being… unpleasantness involved. I wanted to flinch away so badly. It was dredging up some memories that I had thought I’d left behind after Ouran Academy.

“It wasn’t!” Ayami insisted.

“Are you telling the truth?”

“I am.” The girl backed away from Noriko’s grip, looking panicked. “Ayami didn’t do it!” she yelled suddenly. The room abruptly began to shake and there were loud thumping sounds coming from all around. I could tell from Noriko’s face that she hadn’t seen something like this before. “Ayami didn’t do it.” Ayami was quieter now, but the thumping had intensified and now it was shaking the bookshelves. “Stop it!” she yelled, closing her eyes. Abruptly, the walls shook so hard that the bookshelf began to fall.

“Noriko!” I yelled, moving forwards trying to get the client out of the way of the falling bookshelf but arriving a fraction of a second before it crushed her and pushing her out of the way. I got hit instead, not having enough time to move myself out of the way.

“Aunt Nori!” Ayami yelled, stricken. “Karma!”

* * *

[Day 3]

“So, what is that? Two huge failures in a row?” Monk asked as he looked at the monitors beside Ayako.

Ayako glared at him before shoving her nose in the air and stalking off. “I guess I’m just a useless waste of space then.”

Luckily, Noriko hadn’t been hurt in the incident, and I was fine too. Just a little sore here and there. The bookshelf had been rather heavy. Noriko had been worried, but I’d assured her that it was far from the first time I’d had a bookshelf fall on me during an investigation. While that was stretching the truth a little, it wasn’t a complete lie. Noriko was relieved and moved on with her evening.

“So yesterday, what was that?” I asked as I rubbed at my shoulder. I had landed slightly awkwardly when the bookshelf hit my back and I was still feeling the ache in the shoulder today. A normal person would have sprained something – I just had to deal with some aches and pains that would be customary for sleeping in an awkward pretzel position.

“It seemed to react to the little girl shouting.” Bou-san noticed, “and it could be tied to the image of the child you mentioned seeing in the kitchen.” He looked down at me, not noticing my nervous gesture. They’d all checked on me after the incident, but they were quickly eased by the fact that I said that I was fine. The aches hadn’t really hit until I went to bed anyways.

We had work to do – I didn’t expect them to pay too close attention to my minor injuries.

“I believe that Ayami is behind this.” Naru said suddenly and out of the blue, staring intently at the wall of screens in front of him.

Monk looked kind of startled. “I thought the suggestion experiment you conducted proved that the culprit wasn’t human. How much confidence do you put in that test of yours.” As was apparent in the monk’s tone of voice, he still wasn’t all that confident in Naru’s deductive skills, despite the fact that Naru had practically solved the case at my school by himself.

He looked almost angry as he stared down the half foreign teen. Naru took it all in stride. “100 percent.” He spat.

“Is it possible the suggestion failed?”

“There’s no way.”

“You know you’ve been wrong before.” Monk was full on glaring at Naru now. But that was unfair. Naru hadn’t been wrong. He just hadn’t had the full picture at the time. I looked between the two of them, watching as the verbal tennis match intensified before my eyes. Naru stood stiffly with his arms cross over his chest. I could feel the tension radiating off of his body.

Apparently so could Lin because he chose that moment to turn around in his seat and bark at his teenage boss. “Kazuya, the temperature in Ayami’s room is dropping again.” Naru immediately broke out of his argumentative funk and he leaned forwards, staring at the monitor with Ayami’s room on it intensely. The single-minded focus was almost frightening, but it was also pretty hot so I avoided looking at him for a bit.

“Lin! More sound.”

Lin slid some dials and soon the room was filled with the sounds that the microphone in Ayami’s room was picking up. Loud thumping and clattering sounds were the most prevalent in the audio recording.

“That is intense.” Monk said as he leaned back from the speakers slightly. The rustling sounded like someone was throwing around numerous wooden chairs and hitting the walls with their fists all at once. What made it more unsettling was the fact that there was a. no one in that room, and b. nothing was moving in there either.

Naru had moved from where he had been standing slightly in front of me to tapping away at his laptop. “Incredible,” he said.

“What’s that.” I asked softly, not moving as we all looked at him.

“The temperature, it’s dropping unbelievably fast.”

I was momentarily stunned as I looked at the screen and the temperature graph. “Then hold on,” I said slowly, “who could be responsible for doing this?” Ayami wasn’t in the room. It couldn’t be her.

Naru voice my thoughts, “it’s not Ayami, that’s for sure,” he had an odd gleam in his eyes. It took me a moment to decipher what it was since I wasn’t quite used to reading his eyes yet. It was pure excitement. The thrill of the chase and the hunt. He’d caught the scent of his prey and he was enjoying finding it. I could see why he chose this job if this small bit of action got this reaction out of him. It was the same look Nagisa got in his eyes whenever he had a particularly satisfying mission.

I understood that.

“No, no human could pull this off.”

* * *

“I take it Ayami likes to keep to herself, huh.” I said softly to Noriko as we both watched Ayami brush Minnie’s hair. Naru had told me to watch Ayami, so I went and found both her and Noriko sitting quietly in Noriko’s room. It was very clean, and Ayami was very quiet. Odd things indeed. I didn’t want to disturb the girl, but any information could help. Ayami was clearly involved in all of this somehow, and so far, we were at a blank as to how.

“Well normally she’s a lot more outgoing and cheerful than how you’ve been seeing her. She’s been acting very strange ever since her dad got remarried a few weeks ago.” The client was clearly very worried about her niece. The first instincts I’d had when I’d seen her confronting Ayami had been wrong. The client was a very caring and concerned woman. She loved Ayami like the kid was her own.

“I see.”

There was a moment of silence before a knock or two at the door. Both Noriko and I looked to the door shocked. The door opened to reveal Kanna holding a tray with some cookies and a jug of orange juice on it. “Ayami, it’s time for your snack.” She said brightly as she walked forwards and kneeled beside the coffee table. “It’s nice to have someone to play with. Don’t you think?” her smile was forced as she placed a small stack of cups down on the table. She was trying too hard to win Ayami over.

It was rubbing me the wrong way. I tensed up despite myself, and I could tell that Noriko had noticed my discomfort at her sister in-law’s tone of voice. It was off somehow, very obviously faked. It was no wonder Ayami looked uncomfortable. “I really wish you would talk to me more. Why don’t you have a cookie.” She continued, her face trying to be opening and inviting, but the edge of annoyance was plain to see.

Her voice was impatient as she stared expectantly at the child. She spoke like she was expecting Ayami to accept her right then and there. Like it was expected of Ayami to treat her like a mother figure by now. I bristled slightly, offended on the girl’s behalf. “Don’t you want one?” she asked softly, waiting a moment for Ayami to respond before losing her patients and snapping. “Fine. Suit yourself.” Then in a very Ayako like fashion, she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

I flinched at the sharp sound and Noriko looked at me worriedly. I waved her off as I regulated my breathing, keeping a watchful eye on the door as Noriko returned her focus to her niece. “It’s okay sweetie. Is it alright with you if your aunt Noriko has a cookie?” she reached for a cookie, but Ayami slapped it out of her hand.

“No!” she yelled, “those cookies are no good!” I stared at Ayami, surprised that she would exclaim that loudly over a cookie. Said cookie, clattered to the floor across the room. “Minnie told me so, she said all the snacks are poisoned. Minnie told me my new mom is a witch. She said she made dad her servant with her magic. She said Ayami and her aunt Nori are in the way so she’s trying to poison us.” She confessed suddenly.

This is getting weirder by the minute. Why was Ayami so forthcoming all of a sudden? And what was with that doll? The _doll_ told her all that? Its eyes were so dead…

* * *

_I woke up slowly. An awful red glow was seeping through the open window, and for a moment I didn’t recognize my surroundings. But then I remembered, wait, this is the room that I’m staying in at Noriko’s house. I sit up slowly and I look around. There was an annoying bird in the distance, just warbling away in the background. I wish it would stop._

_I must have been really tired last night. I don’t even remember going to bed. I stretch slightly and look towards the door of the room as the bird’s wailing gets seemingly louder. I don’t know why my gaze was drawn there, but I look anyways trusting my instincts._

_Naru is standing in front of the closed door, just looking at me. He’s smiling softly in the eerie odd red glow. It looks almost ominous, and immediately I’m on high alert. Why is he here? What’s wrong? I ask him this, but there’s something wrong with the sound._

_The bird has gotten impossibly loud, and I can’t hear any sound other than the bird. Naru is moving his lips, and he’s clearly trying to tell me something, but what he’s saying is gibberish and my lip-reading skills aren’t helping me. I can’t quite tell what he’s saying, and I’m almost there. I can feel myself just barely grasping on to what he was saying._

_And then the bird was gone._

_Suddenly, Naru’s voice flooded my senses, filling in the gap that the bird left. “Ayami is in great danger.” His voice echoed around the small room and the corners of my mind. She is? I don’t understand, how is she in danger? Naru? What’s going on, please talk to me! The wind is rustling in the tree outside my window and I feel a chill run down my spine._

* * *

I wake up with a jolt, immediately lunging for my sketchbook and frantically writing and drawing everything I could remember. By the time I’m done, I have a rough pen sketch of the guest room with me in the bed and Naru standing aloof by the door. His mouth is open as if he’s saying something. The bottom of the page held some scrawl that said, ‘Ayami is great in danger’, ‘red light’, and ‘shrill bird’. I’d started documenting the weird dreams that I had in some lame attempt at figuring out why they happened.

It couldn’t just be my stupid crush. There was no way. I’d dreamed of him twice before I’d even met him, and both of those times he’d helped me.

A slightly softer orange glow filled the room, and I sat up, looking at the door to find no one there. It was just a dream then. Dammit. I sighed as I pushed the sketchbook onto the side table and got up. Well, time to start another day and try to not embarrass myself like some pathetic school girl in front of my crush. That was a weird ass dream. I must have just had a nap. It was sunset.

Wait shit. I forgot to tell Naru about the doll.

I rushed through my morning routine and practically ran down to base. Naru was of course, already up and looking over the tapes from the night before quietly with Lin. When I told him what had happened yesterday with Ayami, he seemed intrigued. “Minnie is the one who told her that? So, she’s talking with the doll.”

“Pretty creepy huh.” He adopted his ‘thinking pose’ as he looked off into the distance. I’d seen him do this enough times by now to know that he was fitting another piece of the puzzle onto his board. I watch him scowl as he stared into the distance and I couldn’t help but think; yup, that was definitely a dream. The only time that I see him smile is in my imagination.

* * *

“This is Ayami’s doll; Minnie.” Noriko said as she handed the doll to Naru. “My brother bought it for her as a present right before they moved into the house with me.” She explained as Naru stared intently at the doll. He was looking for something – what exactly I didn’t know. I couldn’t even tell if he’d found it. His blue eyes were so cold and emotionless. He was better at hiding his emotions than I was. I blame it on his generally cool and aloof personality and the fact that I’m just full of rage and sharp edges.

I have a short fuse. Sue me.

“Did Ayami’s behaviour change before she got the doll, or after?” Naru asked, looking up from the doll. Noriko had to think about it for a moment, but then she gave the answer that I’d known was coming.

“Um, it was after.”

The door was thrown open. “Let go of her!” A distraught and panting Ayami yelled as she rushed over to Naru. “I’ll save you Minnie.” She grabbed onto Naru’s shirt, who had raised his arms along with Minnie almost automatically as he stared down at Ayami. “Give her back!”

Naru bent down to look at Ayami. “Now Ayami, I understand that you’re able to talk to Minnie.” He said, his voice actually sounding almost soft. She met his eyes for a moment before she broke the eye contact and looked down and away from Naru’s piercing gaze. Abruptly, she lurched forwards and ripped the doll from Naru’s grip before running out of the room.

“Don’t you ever touch her again!” she yelled as she fled. Naru watched her go, a surprised and slightly lost look on his face. He wasn’t gifted with kids then. I mean, neither was I so that was fine. It was actually kind of amusing.

* * *

[Night]

It was a unanimous decision that needed to get the doll away from Ayami, so late at night when Ayami was sleeping soundly, Noriko and I snuck into her room and took the doll. “Ayami, I’m sorry. We just need to borrow Minnie for a little bit.” Noriko whispered as she tucked a stray lock of hair behind Ayami’s ear. We left the room as quietly as we came, doing our best to ignore the strong winds that blew the trees ominously just outside all of the large windows. There were no clouds in the sky, and the moonlight painted shadows all over the walls.

In order to observe the doll, Noriko and I had placed it in Ayami’s bedroom before making our way back to the base. “So that’s Minnie, huh.” Monk said as he looked at the doll through the monitor. He looked unimpressed, but sufficiently unsettled. “I’m surprised the little squirt let you take her.” He admitted, smirking at me.

I smirked like the cat that got the canary. “Well to be honest we didn’t exactly get her permission.” I said, my grin widening as his own smile faded at my facial expression. “She sure is creepy looking, isn’t she?”

“I guess.” He admitted. “Archeologists thought that dolls were originally created as vessels for trapping people’s souls. Being soulless and empty on the inside, a spirit could possess them more easily.” He turned to Naru, leaning down slightly. “So Naru, are we just going to watch this doll all night?” he might have said more, but the tail end of his sentence was overshadowed by Naru suddenly standing up. A shadow fell over his eyes and I was suddenly struck with a sense of foreboding.

“Hey Naru, what’s up?” I asked, leaning forward to get a look at his face. He was glaring sharply at the screen, and I followed his gaze. The doll had fallen from where it sat all prim and proper in the middle of the bed. It was now lying face first all sprawled out. It shouldn’t have done more than fallen backwards if it was just a breeze. It shouldn’t have even done that.

“No way, she was sitting just a minute ago.” I say redundantly, stating the obvious. I thought that would be it, and then she began to move on the bed, as if something was dragging her across the bed by her ankle. We all stared in shocked silence as she moved ever so slowly across the covered mattress. Eventually the hair at the nape of her neck lifted up enough to reveal the base where the head connected to the body.

It was at that time that the hair pushed aside to reveal Minnie’s face, instead of the back of her head like we were expecting. Then just to add an extra little ‘fuck you’ the head rolled _off of the body_ and onto the floor, bouncing a couple times. It came to a rest right in front of the camera, blocking the view of the camera.

I couldn’t control my instincts at that point, and I released a low guttural growl that human vocal chords were definitely not capable of. It was animalistic and tapered off into a hiss as I stared at the doll with a hatred that I had reserved only for people like my adoptive parents. Monk, Lin, and Naru paid me no mind as they were too busy staring at the soulless eyes of the doll in the view of the camera.

She was staring at us like she could see through it.


	5. File 2 - Part 2

[Day 3]

[Night]

Abruptly the feed cut out, all the monitors going dark. “We lost picture.” Naru said as he stepped back from the monitors. Monk grit his teeth before turning and running out of the room.

“Wait!” I called after him, booking it to catch up with his long stride. We ran up the stairs and threw open the door.

“No way!” Bou-san gasped in shock and horror and I struggled to see around his large figure. When I did I had to agree with his sentiment. The room was dark, but that was no problem for me. It was the eerie moonlight that highlighted Minnie’s face that created the unsettling shadows. It was particularly unsettling, because Minnie was sitting in the middle of the bed, as if she’d never moved at all. “I don’t believe it. It somehow moved back to its original position.”

“This is common.” We whirled around to see that Naru had followed us out of the base and was standing in the doorway of Ayami’s room. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he lectured us. “Spirits don’t care for mechanical devices.” God, this guy was so dramatic. Was this a thing that ghost hunters did? Were they all eccentric in their own way? I mean exorcists tended to have their own… ticks. Why would ghost hunters be any different right?

* * *

I had been just about to leave the base when Naru caught me. He was standing at the door, holding out my sweater. He leaned against the door frame as he effectively blocked my way out of the base. “Walk with me,” he said, draping the sweater over my shoulders. I scowled but followed him anyways. I had taken off the sweater because things had been heating up in the house, but I had been wearing a long-sleeved shirt to avoid having to explain my tattoos to everyone.

So far, I’d gotten away with not showing any of my arms to the others, but I wasn’t going to push my luck. Summer was fast approaching and only Naru could deal with wearing full black office attire 24/7. I was not Naru and I liked to be free. I’d have to fess up about my numerous tattoos eventually, but until then I’d avoid it.

We walked up the stairs slowly and quietly, and we were about a hallway or two away from the guest room I was staying in when Naru next began to speak. “Are you alright.” He asked, and if I hadn’t been watching his mouth move, I would have believed that it was just my imagination. “I saw you rubbing your shoulder earlier, and the book case couldn’t have been good for your shoulder.” I was surprised, here was Shibuya I-don’t-care-about-anybody Kazuya, asking _me_ if I was alright. Naru was actually interested in my well-being???

“I didn’t think anyone had noticed.” I whispered, equally as quietly. “I’m fine though. Just some bruising and soreness. Nothing to be too concerned about. I should be fine tomorrow.” I say, looking at him out of the corner of my eye. My hand subconsciously raises to clutch onto the various charms I had around my neck. He nods minutely and then we’re at the door. In an odd moment of out of characterness, he opens the door for me as I walk through.

He doesn’t stop to bid me goodnight, but he did close the door as he made his leave.

* * *

[Day 4]

I walked up the stairs to see Ayami. Noriko was making some food and had asked me to go get Ayami because for some reason I was the only one that Ayami had warmed up to yet. I was maybe a foot from the door when I sensed that something was off. The air was slightly colder than before, and the door was slightly ajar. I had raised my hand to knock, but when I heard a mysterious sinister voice hissing from behind the door, I let it drop and instead pressed my ears closer to the door. Demonic enhanced hearing was really coming in handy now.

_“This house is teeming with evil witches.”_

“Even aunt Nori?”

_“Auntie is one of the witch’s minions.”_

“But I don’t want auntie to go, she’s my friend.”

_“No. I’ll get rid of her for you. Along with the rest of them. You just need to do exactly as I say, okay?”_

That didn’t sound good at all. There shouldn’t be anyone else in that room except for Ayami. I quickly opened the door, pretending like I had just arrived. “Ayami?” she was sitting on a small orange ottoman, the doll sitting on the table in front of her. She had a lost look in her eyes, so I avoided looking at her and instead focused my gaze on the unmoving doll. “Did I just hear you talking with someone?” I asked softly as I closed the door and walked over to the child.

“Yeah.” Ayami says.

“Minnie?”

Ayami shook her head and pointed towards the door. “There were some other kids too.” I turned to look where she was pointing, and my heart rate began to increase as adrenaline pumped through my system. The awful slimy feeling hadn’t gone away, and now I was staring at an empty doorway. The door was open, but everything beyond it was mysteriously cast in shadows. “Huh, I guess they’re gone.” I had closed that damn door. It shouldn’t have been open.

I turned back to Ayami, rubbing the back of my head and smiling. “Guess they don’t like me too much, do they.” I tilted my head to the side as I smiled at her. There was a good reason that they’d run. They made the smart decision, to disappear upon my entrance. “So, tell me Ayami, how long have these friends been coming over?” I kneel beside her, looking at her and avoiding the dolls gaze now.

“I don’t know.”

“Would you say that Minnie is friends with these other kids too?” Not once has my smile left my face. That is until Ayami answered my question without even flinching.

“Minnie’s the one that brought them here.”

* * *

“So, what’s the story on this house? Is it notorious around the neighbourhood for being haunted?” Ayako asks, having made her appearance in the base by late morning.

“The doll is what we need to be concerned with. Not the house.” Monk replied, turning to look at me. “You said the kid claimed that it was Minnie who she brought over the friends, didn’t she?” I nod, “Can a spirit possess a doll like that and communicate through it?” Monk asks as he turns to look at Naru. Naru stood up from his spinny chair before answering.

“It is a definite possibility. Do you want to try and get rid of it?” he challenges and Monk smirks.

“I’d like nothing more than to take down that doll.”

And that’s basically how that evening Monk was sitting in a dark room with the doll in his own ceremonial robes and chanting. While Monk did that, Ayako stayed by Ayami’s side while she slept. I watched all of this happen through the monitors back at the base. Things were going okay, but then I heard a scream and I was bolting out the door.

This was really becoming a patter for this case.

I ran up the stairs to find Noriko laying on the ground in obvious pain. “What happened?” I yelled at her as I bent down beside her and immediately began to assess the damage.

“My leg.” She gasped out and I pulled it towards myself and began to examine it. That’s when Monk appeared out of thin air behind us. “It felt like someone really strong was pulling me by my leg.” She explains through her whimpers of pain. I look closely at her ankle, ignoring Monk as I examined her injury.

“It’s just dislocated. You’ll be fine.” I reassure her, although she doesn’t look all that reassured. “I can fix it, but you’ll need to trust me. On the count of three.” I say, ignoring Monk’s protests behind me as he realized what I was doing. Noriko just nodded and closed her eyes. “One, two–” And before I could get to three I shoved her ankle back into its socket. I had done this enough times to know how to do it properly at this point.

She screamed in pain as her joint shifted and she gingerly pulled her leg out of my grip. “What happened to three?” she whispered.

“You couldn’t be tense when I did that or it would have hurt more. I’ll get some gauze and we’ll wrap that up.” I tell her as I begin to stand up. I hadn’t been paying too much attention to it at the time, but now that there was some distance between me and Noriko, I was able to see that there was finger shaped bruises on her ankle. Well that would explain how it got dislocated then.

“Hold up Karma, maybe you shouldn’t have done that! There’s a reason that we call professionals–” Monk began, trying to lecture me but I was not going to let that be.

“I know the dangers that come with pinching nerves, but I’ve reset limbs enough times to be able to do this with no problem. I know how to patch someone up, Bou-san. Now if you could watch Noriko while I head to my room to grab the roll of bandages that I have, that would be great.” I say snippily, already moving further down the hallway. I would have sent him to get it, but I don’t want him snooping and finding my katana and other things that I can’t really explain.

Monk looked like he wanted to say something more when I came back and began clinically and efficiently wrapping up Noriko’s ankle. He finally settled on simply asking “how do you know how to do this?” Noriko looked up at me curiously; I could tell that she wanted to know just as much as the monk did, so I indulged them, since she was the client.

“Things got pretty interesting at my first high school. I’ll explain further when Naru is present.” I say as I tucked in the edges of the bandages with a flourish. “There all done. Just stay off that ankle for a couple of weeks while it heals fully. If you can’t stay off it completely, avoid putting too much weight on it.” I advise. Noriko nods in understanding.

“Thank you, Karma,” she says softly as I help her up and to her room, Monk following close behind.

* * *

“Where is Minnie?” Ayami asks as Naru stares dispassionately at the child sitting beside me.

“Minnie’s with me for a little while.” He blinks, “now I need you to tell me all there is to know about your new friends okay?” he asks. He’s trying to friendly, but I can see that he’s distinctly uncomfortable with this situation. He doesn’t like interacting with kids because he doesn’t know how to interact with them all that well. He could be cold and callous with adults, but with kids? Yeah that didn’t work all that well.

If he was still going to be a bit… naïve in the way that he interacted with children, then I was fully comfortable with playing good-cop-bad-cop with him. Even if I was usually the bad cop in any given situation, I was probably still better with kids than he was. At the very least, Ayami was more comfortable around me than she was around Naru.

Ayami ignored Naru’s question. “Give her back to me!”

“How long ago did Minnie start talking to you?” Naru was not shaken by the lack of response he was getting from the girl.

“Give her back! You can’t take my friend away from me!”

Naru was losing his patience and he upped the antic a little bit. “Listen Ayami. Your aunt Noriko is hurt. Minnie did it to her. Now talk.” His eyes were hard as he stared down at the girl. Ayami started to cry and turned to me. Reluctantly I wrapped my arm around her as I stared up at Naru.

“You just made her cry.” I said, trying to infuse my voice with some anger, but my face just revealed that I was bored. He raised an eyebrow but nodded in thanks as I ‘played along’. He was probably just bad at asking for answers from children, but I let him believe that I thought that this was a plan.

“I’m just doing my job, Karma.” He said, crossing his arms over his chest. Ayami was still crying softly into my chest and I raised an eyebrow at him, my eyes flickering down to the child.

“You don’t have to be so rude about it.” I scold softly.

Ayami cried softly, “I’m s-sorry! Minnie said I wasn’t allowed to talk to anybody. She said she’d hurt me I made any friends. I’m sorry.” She apologized. Naru and I exchanged a glance as we both looked down at the crying girl. Well would you look at that, Naru’s tough strategy did work. There was a reason the good-cop-bad-cop thing had become such a trope. It did actually work.

Naru looked down, closing his eyes. “When did Minnie start talking to you?” the sternness was gone from his voice and he was actually kind of gentle with her now.

“When we moved into this house. She told me that my new mom was a witch who was controlling dad and using him as a servant. Aunt Noriko was on her side, but Minnie said she’d protect me. Well, as long as I wasn’t nice to anybody else. Whenever I’d forget my promise and play with aunt Nori, Minnie would break things and mess up the room as punishment.” Ayami explained, slowly calming down in my awkward embrace.

“And was it around this time that Minnie started inviting other friends to the house as well?” I asked softly, feeling Ayami nod.

“Lots of them,” she agreed, “kids just like me. Minnie says that her friends are her servants.” She told us. I rubbed her back gently before standing up and picking her up.

“Thank you for telling us Ayami. That was really brave of you. Why don’t I take you to your aunt Noriko before I get to work.” I said, walking past Naru who looked to be deep in thought. “We won’t let Minnie get you okay?” I said, trying to reassure the sniffling child. She nodded before burying her face in my shoulder and her one hand in my hair.

Ew. I’d have to shower extra well today. Sniffling children and their sticky faces and fingers. Why did I pick her up? I wasn’t the nice one – although with Naru here, I guess I was.

* * *

“Now that Noriko isn’t here, can you explain what you meant earlier?” Monk questioned as soon as Naru and I walked into the base with Minnie in tow. Ayako was already there and Naru dumped the doll on his chair before turning to look at me. He raised a delicate eyebrow in a silent question and me before leaning against the table. I sighed, I didn’t want to have to do this, but time to weave some truths and lies.

“You know, I used to go to school with a kid who grew up at a monastery.” I begin, drawing both Monk and Naru’s attention to myself (Lin was getting some sleep at the moment while we watched the base. He was laying in the corner of the room on a small futon). Monk looked at me oddly as I continued, just sketching absent mindedly in my notebook that I had pulled out of my pocket. I flipped through a couple pages until I got back to the True Cross section. “They were from the same temple that was destroyed by the Blue Night, if you know what that was.” I saw Monk’s eyes widen as he stares at me.

“I’d heard that there were survivors, but I never thought… kids?” he asked stunned.

I nod. “So, you know what I’m talking about then. Good.” I say, moving my notebook until they could see the sketch of the Kyoto Trio. “These are them. They work with the Vatican on exorcisms too. This isn’t my first hoe down, if you catch my drift. Being in the line of fire isn’t new.” I reveal, watching carefully for Monk’s reaction.

Naru narrowed his eyes as he stared at me, as if looking at me in a new light. “What do you mean by the Blue Night?” He asked curiously, focusing all of his attention on me. Hmm, curious question. Especially from Naru.

“It was an attack on a temple directly from Satan many years ago. It was rumoured that the attack occurred because his human lover was giving birth to his half-demon children.” Bou-san answered the genius’ question. I nodded.

“Their family heritage followed them throughout high school, and low-level Gehenna demons were a common sight. I’d been attacked before I was made aware. I learned some sutras from them, although, they only supposedly work on rot demons. Whatever that means.” I share flippantly, trying to throw Naru off my scent. There are things that I could realistically know, and others that would be better left out. “I learned some first aid while I was attempting to survive attending True Cross Academy and being friends with 3 exorcists in training. Not a fun time, let me tell you.”

I didn’t plan on keeping my cover indefinitely, but I wasn’t just going to hand him answers on a silver platter either. He was a big boy, he could figure things out by himself. I’d reveal my skills if the need arose. Like for example, if we came across another ghost-turned-demon, then I could handle it. Naru and his ghost hunting equipment wasn’t equipped to handle things like that, so I would take care of it for him. If I had to break out the katana I kept in my travel bag to do so, then so be it. I still had my belt whip at the ready as well as multiple knives, but those never did much more than stall demons.

I’d need a demon blade to best a demon.

“While this information is truly fascinating to learn about Karma, I must insist that we get back to the task at hand.” Naru said seriously, getting up and standing beside me as we all looked at the doll. I nodded, grateful for the save, even if it hadn’t been intentional. Naru nodded in return before staring at the doll in question.

Monk placed his hands on his hips as she stared at the doll. “Well, she’s definitely causing this. Makes me wonder if the previous owner died and then possessed the doll.

“That thing gives me the creeps,” Ayako shuddered, “this is exactly why I’ve hated dolls ever since I was a child.”

“Minnie is not the one behind this.” Naru said slowly.

Monk wasn’t so sure, “how can you say that after what we’ve seen?”

“Because the doll is only being used as a vessel.” I say suddenly, looking like I’d just stolen the words from Naru’s mouth. “Someone explained earlier that dolls were hollow, so the doll itself probably isn’t cursed. If it’s speaking, the most logical conclusion is that something is using it to communicate with us. It’s just a means to an end.” I said simply.

Naru looked almost impressed by my reasoning. “There’s a restless spirit that is possessing this house. Until we can find a way to discover its true identity, Ayami is in grave danger.” I felt a jolt run up my spine. Those were the exact same words that the Naru in my dreams had told me. Was this a coincidence? Those dreams were really beginning to freak me out, but none of Naru’s tells became present in the next few seconds. He didn’t look at me and he didn’t seem to see how I was internally freaking out either.

These dreams had meaning, but I don’t know what. I’d need to pay more attention to them. As a demon it was important to pay attention to my instincts because they were on a higher level than human ones, but this seemed different. The Naru in my dreams knew things that it shouldn’t have. Either it’s my subconscious telling me things my conscious mind is inches away from figuring out myself, or there was something paranormal going on.

It was looking more and more like something paranormal with every dream. But why choose Naru as the manifestation of this… psychic thing?

I was drawn away from my thoughts by someone yelling my name from outside of the base. I wrenched open the door to see Noriko leaning heavily on Kanna so that she didn’t irritate her ankle. I walked into the hallway to stand beside Noriko. The two women were looking slack jawed at the wall, and when I got the chance to look at the wall, I could see why.

Written across the walls in a mysterious red substance – it didn’t smell like blood, but I wasn’t completely sure – was _“bad girls will be punished”_. Bad girls? Did that mean… Ayami?

“Ayami just confessed to me something that she was warned to never speak of.” Naru said serious, walking out of the base and coming to a stop a couple feet away from us. Monk had left the room as well; the both of them gazing at the wall with serious and concerned expressions plastered onto their faces. “Minnie believes that Ayami has betrayed her.” He turned to me and I looked at him questioningly. “Karma, I want you to be with Ayami at all times.”

I nod in agreement. “Right.” That was the smart thing to do. Naru knew that there was more to me than I had showed him, and we couldn’t leave the child alone now that we know that she is going to be Minnie’s target from here on out.

* * *

[Day 5]

I saw on the back porch alongside Noriko. Ayami had wanted to play outside, and since Naru had given me the order to stay with Ayami, I had tagged along. “Don’t worry, they’re cleaning that stuff off of the wall.” I whisper, leaning into Noriko a little bit so that Ayami doesn’t hear our conversation. Ayako had stayed behind to clean all the words off the wall while I watched Ayami and Monk dealt with Minnie.

It’s funny. Naru was the one who thought that Ayami shouldn’t see what was written on the walls. Maybe he actually has a serious side. “Get serious Karma, no way, not in a million years.” I mumble to myself, leaning back to take in the feeling of the sun. It was nice, being in a green area where the sun wasn’t bouncing off buildings and was instead shining down on me. Noriko looked at me curiously and I realize that she had heard me.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I was just talking to myself, I do that sometimes.” Noriko nodded sagely.

“Ah yes, love troubles dear?” she smiled mischievously at me. “That boss of yours seems to be quite the handful.” She grinned at me. I felt heat rush towards my cheeks as I pointedly looked away from the client.

“It’s nothing. He’s always like that. And no, I don’t like him.” I told her. She just shook her head and smiled at me.

“Whatever you say, dear.”

Of course, while I was having one of the most awkward conversations I’ve ever had with the client, Monk was performing a ritual and burning the damned doll. By now, Minnie shouldn’t be a problem anymore. But I just had this strange feeling that it wouldn’t work. I hoped that I was wrong, but I almost never was.

“You’ve been a big help. Thank you.” Noriko said, breaking the silence that we had fallen into.

I smiled at her, if a bit weakly. “No problem. I know how hard this has been on you. Especially with Kanna leaving.” I point out. Kanna had left last night while the rest of us had been asleep. She had left a note, citing that she hadn’t been able to deal with all of this craziness anymore. The house had gotten to her, and she’d run away. How pathetic.

“I really appreciate it.” Noriko said sweetly, before looking over at Ayami who had run up to us.

“Auntie? How’s your foot doing?” Ayami asked curiously. Noriko wiggled her foot about and smiled softly at the girl.

Noriko waved her bandaged foot at the girl. I had checked it before we had gone outside, and everything looked to be going just fine. “Much better thanks to Karma-chan’s medical knowledge and quick thinking. Actually, once you started being friends with me the pain went away.”

“That’s great. I’m going to go pick some flowers for you.” Ayami decided. “Do you wanna come with me?” she asked me.

I groaned theatrically as I got up and chased her over to the wild flowers that were growing along the lawn. “Sounds fun!” She giggled as she fell over beside them, excitedly tugging me down with her. “What kind should we get?” I asked as she stared in awe at all the different types that were growing in the thick grass.

“The prettiest ones of course! Silly!” the child chided me as she looked at all the flowers. “Like that one!” and then she was reaching for the flower, her hands buried in the many stems. Everything was going fine for the moment, but then everything went wrong again. Ayami abruptly froze up with her hands buried deep in the greens. She lurched forwards looking panicked.

“Are you okay?” I asked, leaning forwards and peering down at where she was trying to dislodge her arms.

“My hands are stuck!” Immediately I began ripping at the grass around her. If the spirits reach had come out here, who knows what it would do to Ayami. She was essentially a sitting duck unless I got her up. The parallels to Shiemi’s situation were not lost on me as I continued digging, making shushing noises to try and soothe the panicked child. Grasping at her wrists, I used a bit of my strength to rip them up, looking in slight shock at the bare are where her hands had been stuck. There wasn’t anything there.

In the split second it took me to make that observation Ayami had already begun moving. She bolted from my side and around some bushes. “Ayami, wait!” I called after her, standing up and beginning to move.

“Karma! Go get her! She’s running right towards the pond!” Noriko shrieked, a look of pure terror on her face. I nodded and began running, pushing my legs to go faster. Ayami hadn’t gotten that big of a head start

“You’ve got to be kidding me, I watched you burn myself. How did you come out unscathed?” I vaguely heard Monk saying as I ran past the fence that separated our part of the backyard from where Monk had been burning the doll. I wasted a few precious milliseconds cursing our luck because that remark most likely meant that the damned doll was still here. Just perfect.

“Minnie I’m so sorry. Please don’t be mad at me, please don’t be mad at me!” Ayami yelled as I chased her. Minnie? That wasn’t good. I pushed even harder, arriving at the pond just a second after Ayami did. She had stopped right in front of the water’s edge and was holding her hands out in front of her, like something was threatening her right there. “Please don’t hurt me!” she pleaded, shuffling backwards in fright. “I’m sorry!” and then she stepped onto the rocks around the pond and slipped.

She fell in slow motion, an expression of pure terror painted on her face as she screamed. “Ayami!” I yelled as she fell below the surface. Without thinking I ran forwards and jumped into the pond myself. She hadn’t resurfaced and I was damned if I was just going to watch as a little girl drowned right before my eyes. She broke through the surface briefly, but then she was dragged under the water once more.

I dove down into the water and frantically searched around for the girl. It was hard to see through the murky water, but the steady stream of bubbles and muffled screaming ensured that I found the girl quickly. I grabbed her and desperately swam for the surface, pulling the coughing girl to my chest and then to the edge of the water. I dumped her into Noriko’s waiting arms as soon as we were on dry land.

Noriko hugged the soaking wet and sobbing girl tightly to her chest as she tried to resist crying herself. “Ayami, it’s okay, you’re safe now.” She whispered in reassurance, petting Ayami’s hair. I looked away from the touching scene, instead gazing out at the murky green waters of the large pond. Was this the punishment that Minnie had threatened her with?

Something bobbed in the water, and for a second, I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I could swear that I saw Minnie floating in the center of the pond. But Monk should have had her. It was just an illusion… right? She disappeared under the still glassy surface of the pond almost as quickly as she appeared. The only evidence that she had been there was the slightest ripples where the doll had been.

“I’ve decided to move us out of the house.” Noriko told us as we all sat at the edge of the bed that Ayami was sleeping soundly in. It had been a rough day for her. We had gone inside the house as soon as we could after the pond incident. I had left Noriko and Ayami in the guest room as I took a hurried shower and changed my clothes in the bathroom. They had probably seen the bottom of my tattoo sleeve, but luckily, neither of them had mentioned it when I had offered the bathroom to the duo. I had gotten Ayako to grab the two of them a change of clothes so that I didn’t have to leave them alone.

I was a man though, so I stayed out of the bathroom with the door closed as Noriko took care of Ayami. Despite that, I couldn’t leave them alone, especially after the pond incident. The only reason that Ayami hadn’t drowned right then and there had been because I was there. If I had arrived even 30 seconds later, well who knows what would have happened.

It was pointless to dwell on the what ifs. If I did that, my mental state would deteriorate rather quickly.

“That’s probably a good idea,” I acknowledge.

“You should know that there are some poltergeists that will follow you regardless of where you may be.” Naru cautioned, actual concern in his gaze.

Noriko looked panicked and I couldn’t blame her. Who wouldn’t be terrified of a ghost straight from _It Follows_ being after you? “Really? Is there anything that we can do?” she asked.

“There’s no need to panic. I’ve been doing extensive research on the previous owners of this house. Before you and your family moved in, a family by the name of Watanabi lived here. They only lived here for 3 years and left due to a job transfer.” Naru said.

I looked up at him. “So, they weren’t driven out of the house by the haunting?”

He nodded slightly, “that’s right. But before them was the Nogi family. They had a 9-year-old girl who died of an illness here. Before them were the Onomas. Three of their children died here within a 6-month span. Two boys and one girl, 10, 8, and 7 respectively. Two of them were killed in a car accident and the other died from an illness. And before them was the Murakami family, who had a 15-year-old daughter but she is still alive today.”

“If we go back even further, we have the Tanaguchi family. During a visit their 10-year-old niece also died of an illness here in the house. Before that the Ikeda family lost their youngest son at 7 years old. And before them the Tachibana family lost their 8-year-old daughter. So, there’s a definite pattern here.” Naru explained seriously. “That’s all I could find.”

We all looked over at the sleeping Ayami. “So almost all the young kids who lived here… died here?” I confirmed as Noriko buried her head in her hands and began to cry quietly.

“What am I going to do?” she sobbed.

“I’m going to call in some more specialists.” Naru told her, “if you still want to leave the house, I high recommend that you wait until they arrive.” The red glow of the sunset glinted off of Naru’s black hair as he spun around, leaving the room with Monk following closely behind him. “Karma, with me.” He called back as I tried to figure out if I was supposed to follow or stay here to watch over the two of them.

“It’s got to have something to do with this doll. I’ve seen this type of case before.” Monk insisted. “A girl who loves her doll passes away, then her spirit takes control of the doll and manipulates to her will.”

Naru turned to look at the doll. “I told you before, the doll itself is not the problem. Minnie is being used as a vessel for a site bound spirit inside the house.”

* * *

The doorbell rang, and I was the one to welcome the new arrivals in. Naru had apparently called both Masako Hara and John Brown right after Ayami and I had nearly drowned, and they had done their best to get here as soon as possible. “G’day Karma!” John said cheerfully as I held open the door for the both of them.

“Thank you for coming. Right this way,” I lead them down the halls to the base. John was in his full priest attire and Masako had her signature kimono on. I was a bit worried about the lack of ability to move in both of those outfits, but there was only so much that they would be able to do anyways, in the event of an attack. That was what I was there for after all.

We had gotten only past the front foyer when Masako stopped, shoving her sleeve in front of her mouth as she stared wide eyed at nothing. “What is this…?” she whispered, causing both me and John to look back at her. “It’s horrible. I have never been in such a disturbed house before. At her words, the house seemed to warp before my very eyes. John gave no sign to show that he saw the same thing, so I pushed it aside and gently began to walk Masako into the base, my arm supporting her.

Naru and the others looked up sharply as we entered the base, John holding open the door for us. “It’s okay. Why don’t you sit down now?” I suggest as we enter the room. Ayako immediately rushed over, an oddly worried look on her face.

“Masako! What happened?” With her loud voice, came Naru as he walked forwards. Masako took approximately 1 second to look up at Naru and then fall ‘gracefully’ out of my arms, swooning into Naru instead. She clutched onto his arms and began whining. This hoe was fooling exactly nobody if everyone’s slightly constipated look was anything to go by. And it was.

Naru looked down at her, not bothering to move his arms to catch her. Good. “You okay?” not good.

“This house is surrounded by the spirits of children. They’re all suffering terribly. They just keep crying, saying they want to be with their mothers over and over again.” She stopped burying her face in Naru’s chest in favour of looking up at Naru’s stoic face. “I’ve never seen so many spirits in one house. And they’re all innocent children.” She only had eyes for Naru as she spoke. She didn’t care about the fact that the rest of us were also in the room. Then she swooned backwards, falling into my arms as she passed out.

Simultaneously Ayako and John began to panic and flutter nervously around me as they stared at Masako’s unconscious corpse. I gently picked her up and walked calmly over to the couch, laying her down on it. “Guys relax, she just fainted. Probably because she was overwhelmed by the spirits or emotions or whatever.” I told them as I extracted my arms. “Someone open a window, she just needs air and some water for when she wakes up.” I said stiffly, moving away to let Ayako panic over her body.

For a doctor she was kind of panicky.

That night, John performed a blessing on Ayami. “For the time being I have performed a prayer. Your niece will be safe for the next couple of hours.” John told Noriko softly so that he didn’t disturb Ayami.

She bowed deeply, “thank you Father.”

“Now then Kazuya, I’d very much like to see this doll–” John was cut off by Monk bursting into the room.

“Naru! I can’t find Minnie anywhere. It’s like she just completely disappeared!”

Naru looked up and stared at the distressed monk. “So, she’s run away, has she. Don’t worry. She’ll turn up soon.” And with that ominous remark, we all left the room and returned to base. I went ahead and sat down on the chair next to the eternally present Lin and began adjusting things while John, Monk and Naru stood and watched the monitors with a hawk like gaze.

John comes up to stand behind me, placing a hand on the chair. “It’s good to see you again, Karma.” He said softly, “how’s your brother?” I smiled up at him.

“Oh, he’s good last that I checked. He was working on some easier cases. He’s pretty psyched that I’m getting into ghost hunting. Says it’s about time that I start getting involved in the family business.” I tell him, reminding myself that I’d have to call Yukio soon and actually talk to the guy about the fact that I’m ghost hunting. He tends to try and be over protective – especially after the incident that caused me to leave True Cross.

He wouldn’t be happy considering he thought that I had gotten away from danger while I was still going through school. I was a prominent gang leader, assassin, and a fucking paladin with Satanic flames – not to mention that I was _the older twin_ – but he still treated me like I couldn’t look after myself. I was 16 now! I think I can handle a couple puny ghosts that aren’t even after me.

“You have a brother?” Monk asks suddenly, taking interest in our light-hearted conversation. “The family business?” I cursed at how silent the room was. Even if they looked disinterested, I knew that both Lin and Naru were listening too. Thank god Ayako was with Ayami and Masako was asleep.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “A couple years ago I found out that I had a brother who had grown up at a monastery. He wanted to meet me, so I went to True Cross Academy with him for a year. Of course, I’d had no idea that he was an exorcist in training because the main priest who raised him hunted demons. That’s how I got involved with the 3 kid survivors of the Blue Night. They were my brother’s friends first. When I got attacked they told me all about demons and encouraged me to join them in their lessons. The life wasn’t for me at the time, so I settled with playing nurse whenever one of them got hurt.” I explained.

John looked surprised at the fact that I knew of the Blue Night, but he kept silent. Bou-san looked shocked at that explanation. “Is he an older brother? And how’d you end up raised in different households?” he frowned in confusion. I rolled my eyes.

“My birth mother died in childbirth and we were both given up for adoption. The monastery could only afford to take one of us, so they got Yukio. I was later adopted. As for age, well he’s my younger twin, although he looks nothing like me.” I remark thoughtfully. I pull out my sketchpad and flip through some pages. “I don’t have any pictures of us on hand, but here’s what he looks like.” I show Monk and John the picture.

Monk’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Woah, he looks like… nothing like you.” He said in awe as he looked closely at the drawing. “You’re good at art.” He noticed, smiling at me. “Good on ya, kiddo.”

John looked surprised at the photo before glancing at me. “I didn’t make the connection before with the name Okumura Yukio, but that’s Fujimoto Shiro’s adoptive son.” He said looking at the drawing in awe. “One of the youngest to ever make the rank of exorcist. He’s a genius.”

I smirk. “But of course, I couldn’t be the only genius in the family, you know.”

John nodded, “his brother…” then a look of realization came across his vision and he openly gawked at me for a split second before realizing that nobody knew and that I clearly didn’t want anyone to know. He gave me a subtle nod, letting me know that the others wouldn’t hear anything about me from him. I nod in thanks.

Monk thankfully hadn’t noticed and just sort of stares at me before laughing softly causing me to frown. “You a genius? Pull the other leg kiddo.” I pout up at him, widening my unnatural gold eyes as I stare at him.

“I’m 16 and in university after attending 3 prestigious schools.” I deadpan. That stopped his laughter and he just sort of gawked at me. I turned to Naru. “So there! You can’t call me an idiot anymore.” I tell him petulantly.

He looks away from the monitors and full on smirks at me, leaving me stunned. “I’m still smarter than you… idiot.” Then he returns to his work and the room falls into an awkward silence as my face slowly turns redder and redder until it matches my hair and if I could unfreeze long enough I would have buried my head in my hands. Oh my god. Why did he have to smirk like that?

I’m ashamed to say that my love sickness caused me to overlook how he’d just insulted me yet again in favour of internally freaking out at how hot he looks when he smirks like that. Thankfully, neither John nor Monk commented on my face.

It was around 2 o’clock in the morning and we’d been sitting in silence for forever by now. I could hear every single tick that the clock in the corner of the room made as I sketched in my notebook, ignoring Naru and the others. Every now and then I would glance up at the monitors, but I think that Naru has that handled pretty well considering I don’t think he’s blinked in like 5 minutes. As soon as the clock struck 2 AM, a horrible wailing began to echo through the audio feed.

“We’re picking up some noise from the audio feed.” I said shakily, wincing as the sounds echoed through my head through the walls. Sensitive hearing is more often a curse than a blessing nowadays.

“Patch it in.” Naru says, the gleam of excitement returning to his eyes. Lin turned up the sound and the wails increased in volume along with the addition of some wooden clatters. I flinched and made small aborted movements to cover my ears.

John looked around, his face twisted into a look of horror. “It sounds like children, dear God. There’s so many of them.”

I turn to him. “Do you think they’re looking for Ayami?”

“John’s prayer is having some effect.” Monk said seriously, looking up at the ceiling. “Perhaps a kakai barrier would help as well.”

“Kakai?”

“It’s a special charm that is used to thwart any spirits from entering.” Bou-san explained to me.

Abruptly, there was silence, and my head snapped up like that of a dog noticing a squirrel. I tilted my head around, listening closely to see if it had stopped everywhere, and it had. “It’s stopped all of a sudden.” I remark, narrowing my eyes. “Why.”

I was answered when Ayako came running in through the open base doorway clutching a small bundle in her arms. “Naru, I found Minnie! Look!” she quickly handed it over to the dark-haired teen who then proceeded to pull on one end of the cloth to reveal that it was indeed Minnie. “I noticed a bulge under the covers at the foot of Ayami’s bed and sure enough the doll had found it’s way in there.” Ayako explained, her voice wobbling with panic.

John placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Is Ayami alright?” he asked calmly, his tone of voice doing wonders to help calm Ayako down.

“She’s fine.”

I furrow my eyebrows as I turn to start making another note on the case file. Those sounds had stopped at the same time as when Ayako found Minnie. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

* * *

[Day 6]

We turned off all of the electronics in the room, including the lights as John placed the Minnie doll in the middle of the table. He was going to perform an exorcism on it. The dolls eyes had closed – I don’t even remember when that happened, but it did – but as soon as John began his prayer and placed a small cross on its forehead, they snapped open. I flinched at the sudden movement, stepping back and almost stepping on Naru’s foot.

He didn’t comment on the fact as I sheepishly took a step forwards. He was standing way too close for comfort. As John continued his prayer, spraying holy water literally everywhere, the doll began to shake. But never once did it dislodge the cross that had been placed on its forehead. I hissed softly as a drop of holy water landed on my hand, and I subconsciously moved to stand behind Monk’s larger frame. I stuffed my hand in my pocket to hide the slight burn that had occurred there from the holy water.

As John finished, the cross sizzled on the doll, falling off the forehead to reveal a scorch mark on the perfect porcelain. “I believe the spirit has now been cleansed.” John said cautiously, “but that doesn’t mean that it has been destroyed. I believe it would be best for us to burn the doll so that it can never be used for evil again.”

And so, in the early morning hours, John, Monk, Naru, and I went outside and set the doll ablaze.

This time, it burned.

* * *

“I believe the spirit that possessed Minnie is the true spirit that haunts this house. Do you think it could be one of the children that died here?” John asked as he folded up his priest robes and finished changing into a normal t-shirt.

Monk nodded. “There’s a good chance. They were probably lonely by themselves, so they try to bring over the children that inhabit the house and befriend them. Those children then become site bound spirits as well.”

“Why is it just the children?” Naru asks out of the blue. “If they were lonely, then why not choose Noriko or even Karma. Someone who could act as a substitute mother.” I bristled at his comment. He considered _me motherly?!_ I suddenly regret letting Shima convince me to have my yearbook quote for True Cross be ‘it’s so hard being a single mom when you have no kids and are a male teenager’ because I just _knew_ that it would come back to bite me in the ass. Guess who’s never being Naru’s ‘good cop’ again. Damn. If this is the thanks I get…

“However, for some reason Minnie was attempting to eliminate them. Why do that?” After hearing them speculate, I’d had enough of listening in and opened the door to walk into base. Naru immediately noticed my presence despite not even facing the door. “Karma, how’s Hara-san.”

“Still not feeling too well.”

“I see. Monk, I’d like you to try cleansing the house again.” He ordered, sitting down and doing something on one of the open laptops.

Monk looked surprised. “Are you sure?” but Naru didn’t answer him and just kept typing.

“The first to die was Yuki Tachibana.” Naru said finally, here’s our info on her.” Monk reads over them and then looks surprised at Naru.

“How’d you even find that out? These records are over 70 years old.”

“It was rather easy.” He got up out of his chair, the arrogant bastard, and then walked over to talk to Lin. “Let me see the records up ‘till now.” He said to the taller man, and then they both began to murmur quietly to each other. I tuned out the sound of them talking in favour of collapsing into one of the readily available chairs. I was tired. Cases were an emotional rollercoaster. But not for Naru, no, he was just so sure of himself.

Sometimes it was sickening.

Most of the time, it was just exhausting.

* * *

“I thought you said the ghosts can follow us, will we really be safe in a hotel?” Noriko asked as everyone gathered in the foyer to see them all off.

“This charm will protect you.” Naru said as he held out a small slip of paper to Noriko readily accepted the charm. “And just to be safe I’m sending Father Brown and Ms. Matsuzaki to stay with you.”

“Thank you.”

Ayami turned to look at me, smiling care free for the first time since I’d met her. “Karma, are you coming with us?” she asked cheerfully.

I smiled at her, “I can’t, I’m sorry. I have work to do.” Then I patted her head and sent them off. We all waited outside for a moment, Masako conveniently situating herself in between Naru and me.

“Is it working, Ms. Hara?” Naru asked politely as we all watched the black car drive away. She closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly as she focused on her surrounds. Subconsciously I did the same and extended my senses. I didn’t feel anything at first and then I felt stupid, but slowly – ever so fucking slowly – there was something there. I could feel Masako beside me, a calm warm presence, and then Monk who was a slightly brighter glow. I turned to look at Naru and nearly stumbled backwards.

He was a fucking bonfire. The heat was comparable to that of my flames and I was stunned. I had thought that he wasn’t psychic, but if the aura glow thing meant anything, then _yes, he was holy shit he was powerful_. But with the house I didn’t notice anything off. Not like when all the previous incidents had happened.

Masako opened her eyes and looked around her, her eyes lingering on me for a moment before she turned back to Naru. “The spirits have yet to notice. It appears as if the charm is working well.”

“Alright. Let’s get back to work.”

* * *

“Monk, you ready?” Naru said as we watched Bou-san through one of the monitors. He was sitting in Ayami’s room directly in front of the camera.

“ _Ready as I’ll ever be._ ” Came Monk’s muffled voice from the speaker. He began reciting his chant while we watched in a tense silence. Now that Ayami was no longer here, who knows what would happen.

Lin was looking at a screen with a bunch of different graphs and views of the room. “The temperature around the bed is starting to drop considerably. It’s already down 2 degrees in the last minute.” He reported.

“And the audio?”

“Nothing to speak of at this point, though I’m not getting the usual static.” And he was right. The audio was just as clear as it had been when Monk had started. That made me nervous. Well anything that didn’t go to plan set me on edge because then we were in unknown territory. “I’m picking up something else now; knocking sounds” Lin said, placing a hand over one side of the head phones.

That’s when I saw it. “Naru look!” I warned, and Naru’s face paled as he looked over at the living room.

“Lin give me the temp in the living room.” He ordered. There was an odd cloud of what looked like smoke or steam beginning to accumulate in that room.

“Currently at -2 degrees.”

Naru turned to look at Lin. I’d never seen him look this panicked. “It’s dropping?” the worry in his voice was obvious. He pulls the walkie talkie towards his face. “Bou-san we’ve got you in the wrong room. All of the activity is coming from the living room.”

_“What?”_

“Naru!” I say again, drawing his attention to the monitors once more. Monk had moved down to the living room and as soon as he’d entered the door had closed behind him and the mist had solidified. There were dozens of wisps just surging past him and he was batting them away clumsily. There was too many for him to handle though, and he was quickly becoming overwhelmed. The faces that were on the wisps, they were awful. Stuck in a permanent wail as they whizzed by.

 _“Woah what the–, I’ve got multiple apparitions in here.”_ Monk began chanting once more and the wails began in earnest. They were in pain – Monk’s exorcism was hurting them. Those poor children. The wailing was beginning to get to me when something tickled at the edges of my senses. It was cold and dark and slimy as it glided just shy of the edges of my senses.

I looked up at the monitor and was horrified to see a dark presence beginning to solidify behind Monk. There was the figure of a woman surrounded by purple and black fire. It was wailing along with the children, just crying ‘my child’ over and over. Naru noticed it too.

It looked up suddenly, just staring at the camera with glowing eyes. It saw through the camera right to us and it seem to fixate its eyes on my very soul.


	6. File 2 - Part 3

[July]

[Day 6]

“Takigawa, there’s something behind you.” Naru warned as he too eyed up the black spot wearily.

Monk turned around confused. “ _What? There’s nothing in here Naru.”_ He said, whirling around as he avoided spirits. Oh no, that was not good. Not at all. The woman just muttering about ‘her child’ and ‘Tomiko’ as Monk remained oblivious to the obvious danger he was in. She was not good news. There was something _wrong_ about her, but not like with the Jikininki.

“Damn, I guess he can’t see it.” Naru cursed. That was it, I turned and began to run out of the base. I needed to get to Monk _now_ before she could get close to him. She would hurt him, of that I was sure. And I was not about to let that happen! Monk could be a dick sometimes, but he’d been nicer to me than Naru has so far, so I was not about to just _watch_ as he was about to be attacked. Naru whirled around as I ran past him, yelling “Karma, wait!” but I was already at the door of the base.

I threw open the doors to the living room, ignoring the tangible spirits that were flying around the room. “Monk! Look out!”

Monk turned to look at me. “No! You need to go, right now.” He called, but I was no longer paying attention. Instead I was staring at the spirits that had started whirling around me. This was the first time that I’d actually seen a _spirit_ and not a demon. They were just like the stories said, and I felt a wave of cold wash over me as they got closer and closer. I glanced over at the corner where the darkness was, and while I could certainly sense it, the only thing I could see was the shadows gathering there.

“Don’t just stand there, Karma, get out of here!” Monk definitely sounded more desperate now. He was looking at me panicked as he tried to ward off the spirits. They had grown agitated with my presence, but I wasn’t paying all that much attention to them anymore. They weren’t what mattered right now. The dark spirit may not be visible to the human eye right now, but that did not mean that she wasn’t here.

“Get out of here quick, you’re in danger.” I argue, reaching out and moving forwards to pull him with me when suddenly I felt something pass through me. I gave a full body shudder as the darkness flew through me as if I wasn’t even there. I froze, not believing what had happened for a second. The feeling of dread that had been tickling my senses before this was now hanging around me like a heavy cloud.

_“No one can interfere with me. I know you can see me.”_

Before I knew what was happening, phantom limbs had suddenly come to grasp around my throat. This was far from the first time that I’d been strangled, but this was the first time that my hands passed right through my assailant. I would send some fire to my hands to try and burnt the spirit, but the odds of Monk seeing it were high.

“Karma!” Monk yelled as he saw what the fog was doing to me. He ran forward, chanting frantically. As soon as he finished, the hands disappeared, but I could already feel the damage that had been done to my throat. All the thanks ever to super healing. This would be a bitch to deal with normally. “Karma are you okay?” he asked as he steadied me. The oxygen was returning to my systems and my body was still trying to re-calibrate itself, so I ended up swaying dangerously.

“Yeah.” I whisper so as not to irritate my throat further.

He began to lead me towards the door, supporting my weight as I swayed from side to side due to my lungs not accepting air right now. “Come on, let’s go.” We were almost out of the room when there was this horrendous cracking noise coming rom the shadows in the corner of the room. Both Monk and I turned around to look at it.

Surrounded by swirling clouds of mist, the floor had caved in part way to reveal the mouth of a stone well. It looked old, and the wood above it appeared to have just rotted away. “We need to go.” I rasped, pulling the stunned man behind me as I fled the room. There was just a sense of hurt and foreboding coming from the mouth of the well and I did not want to risk one of the spirits trying their luck at dragging us in. Who knows how deep it is?

* * *

“It looks like the house was built over this well. It must be pretty old.” Monk declared as he kneeled in front of the well. Both John and Ayako had returned and were now standing with Masako, Monk, Naru and me around the well that was revealed with the collapsed floor boards. It held a sinister feeling to it, and I honestly don’t know how a medium supposedly as sensitive as Masako could even be standing in the same room as it without throwing up.

“There’s the spirit of an ocean here.” She whispered softly, her kimono sleeve muffling her already soft voice slightly. I only heard her because she was standing next to me, and I don’t really know if I had been meant to hear her. “She’s lurking deep down inside the well, calling to the children’s spirits, pretending to be their mother. The children only want to return home – they’re lost and can’t find their way out.” Well there goes my theory that she was just thinking out loud. Her phrasing had been to explanatory for it to be anything but a report to Naru.

“Is Minnie there too?” I wonder aloud.

Masako looks up at me. “Minnie, who was actually Tachibana Yuki, acts as ring leader to the children. But in reality, she is in so much pain and sadness that she just wants all of this to stop.” Masako looks down at the well, drawing my own eyes down to gaze into the depths. It was s dark even in the daytime that even I couldn’t see the bottom. It was like there was simply nothing there. I felt as if I gazed long enough at the abyss, that I could hear the screams of the children that Masako claimed to dwell there.

My uneasy feeling increased as I stared into the dark. I should be able to see farther than I did. The paranormal side of things was far more interesting than I would have previously thought, but my nerves were taking a major hint. I was slipping back into my PTSD driven paranoia, and the uneasy feeling in the haunting situations was not helping me at all. It was making me feel surrounded, and that’s when my instincts acted back up. I’d need to call Kyoya the next time I had the chance to be alone. He’d want an update on how both school and my new job are going.

I needed to talk to him about my increased paranoia again.

“It appears to me that this well goes deep into the earth. And at the very bottom, lie the spirits of the children trapped in the dark.” Masako declared with trace hints of sadness tinting her voice. She looked away from the well, paling slightly.

“Who is this ‘Tomiko’?” Naru demanded, crossing his arms and leaning against the fire place while levelling an intimidating stare at the famous medium. She turned to him, eyes wide for a moment.

“It’s ocean’s child.” She told him, “she’s looking for her child. Tomiko is her daughter – that’s why she’s gathering the children.”

Naru narrowed his eyes, “now we’re getting somewhere.” His voice was smug and his eyes harsh and calculating. He had figured something out; seen some connection with the new information that Masako had presented us with. He moved forwards, walking past us with a purpose. “I need to take care of something.” He announced, leaving the room deep in thought.

“Naru!” I call belatedly before beginning to grumble to myself about useless bosses who never explain what they are trying to do. “God, why does he always leave like that?” I complain.

Monk shrugs, looking at the closed door with me. “He does that so often I just sort of expect it now.” Ummm boi, you’ve only seen Naru do this on one other case. Calm thyself. I had seen this asshole do this in the fucking office. What even is there to do when hiding in his office? Seriously this guy just didn’t seem capable of handling human interaction or accepting help unless he knew he absolutely needed it. I had a feeling that his limits were being reached by calling all of the irregulars in for this case.

“How about we work on driving out the spirits until he gets back?” Monk suggests, distracting me from my resentful thoughts. It seems that without Naru, Monk seemed to naturally fall in as a leader. How interesting. Normally, I’d probably fight him on this – I didn’t like being ordered around unnecessarily or treated like I was more naïve than I truly was – but right now I was at a distinct disadvantage and I could risk jeopardizing the entire case by making uninformed decisions.

“You’re right.” I agree easily, catching the glint of surprise in the monk’s eyes as he looked at me out of the corner of them. I turn to smile smugly across the well where John and Ayako were standing. “All right guys, who wants to go?” I ask cheerfully.

Monk seems to catch onto my teasing tone and he joined in on the fun. “Which one of you is up to the challenge? I’m warning you it’s intense in there!” he said brightly, waving his hands in the air in a what-can-you-do kind of gesture.” Ayako and John glance at each other. John smiled sheepishly and Ayako began grumbling.

“Fine I guess I’ll do it!” she sneered, scrunching up her nose and closing her eyes in clear displeasure. “But if I go, one of you brave men must watch over Ayami for me.”

Monk and John glanced at each other. “Of course!” They said in sync.

* * *

The sun had begun to set once more by the time that Ayako was ready to begin her exorcism. Some sort of bird was making an unsettling trill in the distance that was pinging at the edges of my senses. Not even Ayako’s prayer was able to drown it out. “May the heart of this house be cleansed…” she chanted, shifting her little paper fan tassel thing around as she continued.

I was sitting maybe a foot behind her watching – I just felt like something was going to go wrong and that there was nothing that I could do to stop it. I like to think that maybe there is and my senses are playing tricks on me (it wouldn’t be the first time with this whole spirit business, demons made more sense honestly) and that my presence will help somehow. Whether it’s agitating the spirit enough to manifest and be subsequently exorcised or my presence will scare it off.

That is if this spirit is strong enough to sense that I wasn’t fully human. I didn’t really get how their senses work quite yet.

But the real reason that I’m in this room is that Ayako is just freaked out. She didn’t want to be in this room alone, so she managed to convince the others that my presence was needed. As far as she knows, I have no powers. I’m 16 years old??? What am I going to do to help her?? She calls herself a spiritualist…

The temperature in the room began to drop, causing me to look around for the source of it. The room was darker, darker than it had been when we first started the exorcism. It was a heavy darkness and it seemed strongest around the well. As Ayako continued her prayers, a thin mist began to drift from the gaping maw of the well. It was working. But then Ayako cut herself off abruptly, looking around the room with wide eyes as a loud thump came from the walls.

The thump instigated what could only be dozens of small footsteps running all over the walls and ceilings. I could feel the brush of a breeze as the something invisible ran past me every couple of seconds. It was unsettling to picture ghost children running on the walls all Naruto like. Ayako sensing my unease (or maybe it was just her own) moved to continue her prayer when suddenly she flinched violently to the side.

“What wrong?” I demanded, leaning closer to her.

She stared wide eyed at the floor beside her. “I just felt something touch me.” Wow, this place was really beginning to get to her, huh.

“You need to stay focused. You’re a professional remember.” I remind her calmly. She seemed soothed by my voice and I moved to lean back to sit on my ankles when I felt something. I began to shiver uncontrollably, my core temperature beginning to drop as something cold and clammy wrapped itself around my ankle.

“Karma! What’s wrong?” Ayako asked, looking at me in concern. My shivering persisted until my entire body was shaking violently. The cold was just seeping into me and wrecking havoc on my inner fire.

“I feel a hand on my–” I begin to explain when suddenly the grip tightens around my ankle and then it’s pulling. I’m thrown onto my back and then I’m being dragged by my ankle across the floor. “Motherfucker!” I yell angrily, struggling to find purchase on the smooth polished wood. “I can’t fucking stop!” I yell in frustration as I begin to pick up speed. I’m being dragged away from Ayako. It’s only been a couple seconds, but Ayako still hasn’t moved, just staring at me in horror.

She yells my name uselessly. I turn to look at where the ghost hand is dragging me, and I pale considerably when I see that it’s towards the jagged edges of the well. That’s gonna hurt like a bitch. I look back towards Ayako, reaching out uselessly on reflex. Lin bursts into the room, running full tilt towards me. “Karma!” he yells, his voice thundering across the room. I take a split second to think about how I didn’t even know that he was capable of yelling.

You know how some people just _can’t_ yell? Well I thought Lin was one of those people. Apparently not. Who’d’a thunk it.

“Quick grab my hand!” he’s reaching for me and I am so close to being able to grab his hand. Then he missed, and I went over the edge of the well into the darkness below.

“Karma!”

* * *

_A drop of water hits my face, creating a cacophonous thunder clap. I open my eyes to the over exposed world of what I had come to refer to as the dream world. The dream world wasn’t like any of my nightmares – those were always under exposed by still far too clear. Things were built on a world of shadows and fear. The dreams that had dream Naru in them, or happened during a case, were always very bright. Like the world beyond the images was just a blank canvas._

_I was lying on the ground again. Staring up at a boarded ceiling. Birds were chirping just beyond the paper walls of the room that I found myself in. The decorations were modest, and spoke of times long past. I hear a soft thumping sound pass through the chirping of the birds. I whirl around to see that this room wasn’t as closed as I thought. Two paper sliding doors had been opened to reveal the backyard of the client’s house. There’s a small girl standing there in a kimono and bouncing a small rubber ball. She reminds me of Masako._

_Her delicate but blurred features, the dark black hair cut in a small bob, and the ever present kimono. Whoever she is, I know that it’s not Ayami. It takes me a moment, but then I realize that it must be Tomiko. Tomiko just keeps bouncing her little ball, and the more I stare, the more of the scene begins to become visible. Everything is painted in a light sepia tone, but I can see the pond behind the girl – she’s standing at the edge of the rocks._

_Out of nowhere she looks up, and suddenly there is the silhouette of a large man with a hat that would cover his face. From what I could tell, he was wearing a trench coat, and he seemed to be talking to Tomiko. No, don’t speak to him. He offers her his hand and she takes it. Then the two begin to walk away from me and towards the water’s edge. Don’t go with that man! I don’t really know why… but that man is dangerous. My instincts wee screaming at me to stop her from leaving, but I couldn’t move. Not even to yell at her._

_I’m screaming in my mind. No! Don’t go! But it’s not doing anything. I could never change what happened in my dreams. A dark shade flies past my vision and my attention is stolen from the man walking away with Tomiko. It’s a frazzled shade of a woman, her hair is falling out of its formerly perfect bun. She’s wearing a kimono just like her daughter, and sobbing “Tomiko, Tomiko” over and over as she runs past me. She was running towards the lake, but it almost looked to be in slow motion._

_And then she stopped._

_I glanced over at the pond, following the woman’s vision. There’s a small round object in the centre, and with certainty, I know that it is Tomiko’s ball. It bobs in the water as the woman begins to wail, tearing out her hair and just screaming._

_Then blackness overtakes my vision and I come to in a scene that is much darker than the previous one. All of the paper doors were closed and there was no light source. Only a small amber glow to highlight the edges of the woman’s silhouette. I turn to look behind me – the woman is standing in front of the well._

_I hear the drip of water droplets on stone and then I realize that the woman is crying. She’s even more of a mess now, and as I watch her cry silently, I know what she’s going to do. No, don’t. I move forward, reaching for the woman despite the fact that I know I won’t be able to do anything. This is just a dream. I make it forwards maybe a step before someone grabs my forearm. It’s dream Naru, and he’s staring at me with a combination of sadness and resignation. He closes his eyes and shakes his head at me, not letting go of my arm._

_My senses are dulled and only the woman’s voice softly muttering ‘Tomiko’ echoes through my mind. I struggle to ground myself with dream Naru’s grip on my arm, but I can’t look away as the woman slowly leans forwards and tumbles into the well._

* * *

I come to slowly, my eyes cracking open to see dim light. It’s dark, but nowhere near as dark as I would expect from falling down a well. I do a quick inventory check on my body to start cataloging injuries, but nothing seems to be terribly wrong. My back hurts like a bitch, but it’s not broken. Thank fuck. That would be an awful way for me to lose the ability to use my legs.

“Karma! Are you okay?” Looking up I can see that I didn’t really fall down all that far. The darkness had been but an illusion yesterday, and it was easy to see that it was no more than a 10 ft. drop. Ayako was leaning over the edge of the well, careful to not touch any of the broken pieces of flooring.

I squint, sitting up delicately. “Ayako?”

“Oh, thank goodness you’re okay, Karma.” She smiled in relief, “just sit tight. Lin’s coming right down to get you.” She assured me. I propped myself up on my elbows, looking around as more light was shed n the sides of the well. Lin was slowly scaling the wall with a large roll of rope in his arms. He slid down the rope and held out his hand to me. I groan as I sit up straighter, really feeling the impact now. My head throbbed and my ass hurt.

I reached for his hand, crying out softly as it stretched the abused flesh on my back. Shit, maybe if I hadn’t had my enhanced healing and slightly stronger bones the fall would have done some more damage. As it was, I was going to be feeling this for days.

Lin stares at me with veiled concern, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and supporting a good amount of my weight. I couldn’t help but lean into him despite the fact that I know he was clearly very uncomfortable. I’d hit my head and being vertical was _not_ doing my any favours. The only reason I was still standing was because Lin was supporting me. “Can you hold on to me?” he asked me quietly, nudging my arms to reach up and wrap around his neck.

I groan but obediently climb up until I’m on his back with my legs wrapped around his waist. My hips are stiff, but I can move well enough to hold on. Lin proceeds to make his way up the rope. Ayako immediately starts fussing as I struggle to climb down Lin, my leg nearly collapsing before I right myself as I put weight on it.

“I’m fine.” I insist quietly, wobbling a bit. Damn, I was in worse shape than I thought. Ayako gingerly wrapped an arm around my shoulder before gently leading be back into the base where she had me sit down so that she could look me over. I was too out of it to complain and say that I could do it just fine on my own. The majority of my injuries was bruising anyways. Bruising and maybe a minor concussion. Nothing a couple days rest won’t heal.

Unfortunately, Ayako didn’t believe me when I told her this because of how woozy I looked. She insisted upon yanking up the back of my shirt and checking for damage, but I managed to keep it so that none of my tattoos showed. She gasped quietly, and I just knew that the bruising was visible. “Is it that bad?” I ask her, tugging down my shirt once more. Ayako nods imperceptibly, her mouth still gaping slightly.

“Yes. Your back looks to be entirely purple and blue.” She informed me, turning to grab a small plaster. There was a decent sized scrape on my leg from when I had been dragged across the floor. She proceeded to clean the cut and then instruct me to lie on my stomach when I went to sleep to do my best to not irritate the bruised muscles of my back. She couldn’t do anything for my concussion, but I didn’t exactly inform her of the head wound either.

Instead, I took the opportunity to inform them on what I saw when I was unconscious. By now, the dreams had been proven to have some sort of meaning in the physical world. It wouldn’t hurt to tell Lin and Ayako what I’d seen. These dreams were happening for a reason, and I was going to trust my gut instinct on this one.

“Really? A kidnapping?” Ayako asked in shock, looking up at me. I was leaning my shoulder against the wall lightly because it hurt to touch anything with my back like at all. I merely nod in response because talking was a chore. I just wanted to sleep so that my body could work on getting over the soreness. It wouldn’t do for me to be unable to move very fast. And if the others noticed that there was more bruising than the glimpse that Ayako had seen…

So far, the only person who knew that I was injured to that extent was Ayako. I’m sure Lin knew that I was hurt worse than I let on, but he wasn’t going to say anything about it. The only way I could see him talking about it was to report to Naru – and that I seriously doubt. Naru wouldn’t care all that much about some bruising. As long as I could stand (and by tomorrow I should be able to function like it was minor bruising) then everything was fine.

“At least I think so. I’m not saying I’m right, but these visions I’ve had before have always held fact in them.” I agree, trying to ease myself backwards into the couch and then deeming that an awful idea. “This man just strolls right up to the girl and walks away with her. And that’s why I believe the mother threw herself down the well.”

“Hm, you have no experience as a medium, so how could your dream possibly hold any weight.” Ayako said flippantly after a pause, slapping the plaster on my knee with just a little too much force. To her credit, she didn’t let her displeasure at my lack of flinching show to much on her face.

I scrunch my eyebrows together. “I never said I was a medium. I only said that these ‘visions’ haven’t been wrong before. And what I lack is experience with spirit related cases, not supernatural cases. I’m not saying to take it as fact, but what I am saying is that you shouldn’t outright dismiss it.” Ayako doesn’t look any less displeased, but she leaves it alone.

“Surprisingly enough, I do believe that he has hit the nail on the head.” Lin said after a moment, frowning and placing his hand on his chin in the Naru thinking pose. I look up at him in surprise – that’s probably the first amiable thing he’s said to me. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I agree that it happened, but I do agree that it is a possibility.”

I gingerly lie down on the couch on my side, quickly figuring out that turning on my stomach would be better. I felt vulnerable as fuck, but Lin was in the room, and I was usually a light sleeper. Settling down, my eyes began to drift shut. Maybe I was right, maybe I wasn’t – all I know is that that dream was not a normal dream.

* * *

_I open my eyes in darkness once more. This was becoming routine as I spent more and more time in spiritually active places. The small glowing dots fluttered around me for a moment before separating to reveal dream Naru standing there. He was looking down at me and I had to crane my neck around to see him. This was a dream that I was familiar with. I decided to probe for information. Worst case scenario I get nothing concrete. “So, dream Naru, about Ayami. Do you really think that we can save her before it’s too late?”_

_His eyes soften slightly, and he reaches out to pat my head gently. “She’ll be fine.” He assures me, staring with an odd emotion in his eyes. That sounds about right. As long as we do our best, everything will work out – that was an oddly positive thought._

* * *

“Are you sure that’s a good idea Naru?” Monk’s voice said loudly, drawing me away from my sleep. Not fully awake yet, I flipped over and off the couch, landing in a crouch. As always, I’d had a knife tucked at the ready and I was holding it in front of me. I backed into the couch slightly breathing hard as my eyes flickered around the room taking everybody’s position in.

Bou-san, John, Masako and Ayako were all standing by the wall while Naru (when did he get back?) stood a couple feet away from me with Lin still sitting at the monitors. They were all staring at me frozen. John looked curious and Monk had frozen mid wave after probably trying to greet me as I woke up. They all (not Naru) had shocked looks on their faces.

Once I’d finished my scan of the room, I slipped the knife back into the back of my pants and straightened up, stiffening slightly at the pain that my back was going through but pushing through it in favour of not looking weak in front of my ~~crush~~ boss. “Uh, hey Karma.” Bou-san said awkwardly. John’s eyes were wide before he met mine and I saw a hint of understanding in his eyes. So, he had figured out that perhaps my brother was not the only one who fought the supernatural.

That or he assumed that I had learned how to fight in the event that my brother couldn’t save me in time. Either way, he had the leg up on Naru now.

Naru looked at me in a calculating manner for a moment before he shrugged off his jacket and walking over to Lin, moving on from my little post-wake-up display. “Lin, play back everything you’ve record thus far.” Okay who actually says the word ‘thus’ in an actual conversation???

“Right.”

I chose to ignore them and instead face the others. “Aren’t you two supposed to be watching Ayami? She could be in danger right now for all you know.” I say angrily, trying to draw attention away from the fact that my first instinct upon waking up is to be on the defensive and that _I had a knife on my person_.

Monk shrugged. “Naru said there’s no use in guarding her anymore.”

“So, we came back here to help.” John smiled brightly, finishing the sentence. I frowned, that sounded, plausible. That was something that Naru would do. But also, what??? Why does Naru do this? I wanted to ask Naru if he was sure, but that would be pointless because he wouldn’t do something unless he was absolutely certain that he was correct. I turned to look at him, almost silently questioning him.

Naru showing his skills yet again, answered my unasked question. “She’s fine. Everything will be finished tonight.”

Seeing that he wasn’t going to explain further yet, I sat back down on the couch, grunting as the muscle pulled with each one of my movements. The one window in the base showed that I hadn’t fallen asleep for long as it was still night.

“So, Karma. What was that?” Bou-san’s voice was pitched a bit higher than I would have expected on a question like that. Looking at the others revealed that they were just as curious, even if Masako was making a valiant effort to not show it.

I shrug lightly, “I told you I lived a pretty exiting life during high school. My brother made sure I can defend myself.” I explain, smiling at the monk. John looked like he was trying really hard not to laugh and I winked at him much to Bou-san’s confusion. He turned to John, but John just waved his hand at the monk.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, mate. Just some things I heard from ‘round the Vatican on my last visit. There was a new paladin appointed a couple of years ago and it’s said that Okumura Yukio was close with him.” He said. John didn’t exactly lie, but he didn’t tell the entire truth either and for that I was grateful.

Monk actually perked up and looked interested. “Oh yeah! I heard about that! They said that he was incredibly young and a student at True Cross academy for only a year. I heard that he has taken a leave of absence; personal reasons.” Well yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I nod amicably.

“Yeah, Yukio was actually teaching him for a time. He said that the new big honcho was absolutely insufferable but earned his title.” I say, absently. I’d need to take some pain killers for this. But they were in my bag, and if the glares that Naru is shooting us now means anything, then he wants us to stop fawning over some other rando (lol he has no idea) and pay attention to his next instructions. He’s the type of guy to do the ‘I’ll wait’ type of thing.

Since that was it would be the course of action which would draw attention away from my hypervigilance induced reaction, I shut up and turned to stare patiently at Naru. The others seeing how stony Naru looked, followed suit.

“Ms. Hara, can you see what the spirits are doing?” he said, stepping forward into the loose circle that the others had made around me.

Masako closed her eyes for a moment. “They’re in the living room. There is no indication that they’d left for the hotel yet.” She informed us

“Matsuzaki-san,” he said abruptly turning to face the priestess. “Start making charms that will stop spirits from leaving.” He handed her a small stack of paper and then turned to the rest of us. “I want the rest of you to post them around the house. We’re going to raise a kakai barrier.”

Monk placed his hands on his hips and stared at Naru with a slight challenging look in his eyes. “Want to fill the rest of us in on the plan?”

“I’m planning on returning Tomiko to her mother.” He said seriously, staring down the monk. Everyone sort of just gasps in shock and stares at Naru. Monk looks like someone just knocked over a cake.

I stood up abruptly, joining the others in standing in the fucking circle. “That’s impossible, Naru.” I say slowly, looking up at him carefully from under my bangs.

“Tomiko will not be returned physically. Her mother will continue to haunt this place until we can at least create the illusion of her return. So we’ll need a substitute.” He says seriously. What does that mean? How are we meant to trick a spirit into believing that her daughter came back?

“You don’t mean Ayami, do you?” I ask in concern. Naru doesn’t seem like the type to endanger people, least of all clients, but I wouldn’t put it past him. For the most part he is still a major unknown and as much as I hate to admit it, I still don’t have a good reading on him and that makes me feel off balance.

“The problem lies with the woman. If we leave here without removing her, we’ll fail.”

Ayako clutched the papers she had been given tightly and whirls on Naru, actual concern in her eyes. “Yes, but this woman is dangerous! She nearly killed Karma an hour ago when she pulled him into the well.” Oh, so it was only an hour ago. Damn, head injuries really interfere with my way of thinking. I’m blaming anything dumb I say on the possible concussion. “I think at some point we need to consider our own safety.”

“I mean, you have a point, but I resent the statement that she almost killed me. I have a hard head, the worst she did was bruise my back and give me a minor concussion. But that’s not the point, what about Ayami? We took this case, so we need to see it through.” I look around the room, taking in the fact that the others were all doing their best to avoid my piercing gaze.

Oh wow, really? “Guys, so far it’s flipped some furniture and attacked Ayami. Then it went after the next youngest person that it knew about – because honestly, I doubt she’d see Masako as a threat or someone she wanted in her collection, no offence – and that was me. It didn’t even really try all that hard to keep me considering you guys came for in less than 5 minutes?” They still refused to meet my eyes and I huffed.

Even John was looking away – and he knew all the shit that demon exorcists had to deal with but still pushed through. It was a fucking phantom.

“I must say that I’m disappointed in all of you.” Naru broke in, “I expected much more. If you can’t even think objectively then I don’t need you.” He closed his eyes as he delivered his cutting statement. I had to admit, he knew just how to say things to get a reaction. It reminds me of Ouran all over again.

Monk was having none of Naru’s bullshit. “The risks are high! If we screw up here our spirits risk being trapped here too!” I mean he probably has a point, but isn’t risking your life and possible afterlife just another part of the job,

“Whether or not you want to participate is entirely up to you.” Naru said after a long moment of not breaking eye contact with Bou-san. He moved to walk past me his shoulder lightly brushing my own but not in the way that someone would shoulder check another? It was more… soft. Reassuring. “Karma, you’re free to leave as well.” And then he was out of the room, Lin following closely behind him and giving me an indecipherable look as he passed.

Everyone let out a breath of relief and they sagged out of their stiff positions. “God Karma, I pity you. He’s quite the handful, huh.” Ayako said snootily, smirking at me. I shot her a glare.

“Yeah and like you aren’t.”

That shut her up. “If Naru is prepared to go that far, then there’s at least a chance of success.” Masako points out serenely. Why is she so pro-Naru all of a sudden? She wasn’t willing to speak up just a moment earlier…

“I trust your judgement Masako-san. If you think we should then let’s do it!” Monk said, placing his hands on his hips in a power stance. I cross my arms and look up at him.

“Are you sure?”

He shrugs, throwing his hands up in the air. “Well at this point what other options do we have?” he asks jovially.

John smiles, “I agree, I think it’s a good plan.” What was _with_ these people and not wanting to speak up when Naru was in the room?

Ayako sighed, “if you all end up dead, I’ll see to your funerals.” And wow, I think that’s the nicest thing that she’s ever said to us. I had the strongest urge to be really sarcastic, and since everyone was on board – we all knew that Ayako’s statement meant that she was in even if reluctantly; she didn’t like to be shown up – I thought, well it wouldn’t hurt necessarily…

“How nice of you! But don’t worry about mine. I’ve had plans in place for years.” And then just to be dramatic, I left the room in much the same fashion as Naru and Lin had.

* * *

It didn’t take Ayako all that long to make the charms, and soon enough we were all placing them around the house haphazardly. “So, what exactly is the purpose of putting these charms everywhere?” I ask curiously as I slap another one on the wall. We had all finished our individual rooms and were now working together to get the hallway outside of the room with the well done.

“To keep the spirits from leaving the house.”

My question had been directed at Ayako, but someone else had responded before she’d had the chance to. I turned around to see that Naru was walking dramatically down the stairs and had chosen to answer my question. I should feel honoured. “Be aware that we’ll be leaving the demon gate open to distribute the spirits.”

I turned to look at John, my eyes widened slightly at the name demon gate. “It _does_ have a different meaning to the paranormal world… right?” I ask him softly, making sure that none of the others heard my question. He nodded imperceptibly.

“Yes, there should be no risk of Satan attempting to rise from Gehenna.”

“Oh, just get off it, why does he always act like a big shot?” Ayako sniffed loudly, drawing everyone’s attention.

Monk and I smiled and then said in sync, “because it’s Naru,” much to her annoyance.

I turn to Monk, “Did he say demons gate?” I ask curiously, not looking at John. It would seem curious if I wasn’t at least a little confused by what the fuck Naru had just said – he totally words these things in such a way _just_ to make me confused or nervous, I swear – and no one had seen my interaction with John. I have a feeling that we might have to have a chat soon, if only so he can ask his questions.

“No, demon gate. The north-east quarter. It’s the easiest direction for spirits to pass through.” He explains. John said it had a different meaning, but thank fuck that Monk didn’t even think about what I might have thought it would be. If it hadn’t had a different meaning, well that would suck because I’m 90% sure that Satan is still out there and out for my blood because I was the reason that he couldn’t rise two years ago.

“Monk and Matsuzki, guard the demon gate.” Naru said, walking up to stand in front of us. “And when the spirits exit, scatter them as best you can.” He ordered.

“So, we’ll be reducing the number of spirits temporarily to draw the woman out?” Bou-san confirmed.

Naru simply turned to John, not bothering with a response to Monk’s question. “John, I want you to go to the living room and do that same.

“Piece of cake!”

Monk frowned, “wait, hold on a second. Then who’s going to conduct the exorcism?” he wondered, and then a jolt ran through his body. “You don’t mean–” he gasped and we all turned to look at Naru. He was unassumingly looking through his notebook. Then he looked up at us and smirked. An honest to god smirk. He was planning on doing the exorcism?!

* * *

We had all gathered in the room with the well in it. John was to be conducting his exorcism, but Naru wanted as many of us present for this as possible so that’s why Masako and I were present. He was standing across the room, his back to the door, while Masako and I were crowded together on the other side. John was standing near the well. Naru hadn’t bothered with turning on the lights – I figure that it would be pointless anyways because the likelihood of the ghost shutting them off anyways was high. If our eyes were already accustomed to the dark it would be easier for us to react and see what was happening.

Well, easier for the humans of the group, but that was beside the point.

“Our father who art in heaven…” John began, spraying his little bottle of holy water everywhere. I moved slightly behind Masako for what was going to be the duration of the exorcism. My proximity to the kimono wearing girl is what allowed her to suddenly latch onto my arm. For someone so small and delicate, her grip was like iron.

I turned to look down at her. “Is something wrong?”

“Cleansings are addressed to the spirit directly to help them with issues they’ve had in their past lives. Only a medium can be successful at it.” Masako said, clutching my arm tightly in her small hands. She turned to look at the tall teen watching John stoically. “Naru is no medium. He plans to perform an exorcism.” Okay then…

“What’s the difference?” I wonder. They both get rid of the spirits, and at the end of the day, that’s the goal, right? Did it really matter what method was used?

“In a cleansing we try to persuade the spirits to change their ways. In an exorcism the goal is to destroy a spirit or kill it out right.” Her voice was urgent, as if urging me to understand something. But quite frankly I didn’t know what she wanted me to understand. Death and destruction was natural. If the spirit was lingering and causing enough problems, was it the right thing to do to let them continue or to try to redeem them? They had become monsters at that point and monsters were meant to be destroyed.

Every monster lives on borrowed time, and it is simply a matter of how strong that monster is, and who is aware of its existence, which determines how long that borrowed time is.

Masako continued speaking. “I wish he wouldn’t exorcize her. At least, not in my presence.” Her eyes were sad as she looked at where John was still going through with his exorcism. Interesting, to Masako, humans and spirits are one and the same. I mean, to me I suppose they are as well; just like my opinion of demons. We’re all on the same level, and killing any of them really doesn’t bother me. It’s just their time.

Abruptly I was launched forwards and out of Masako’s grip when something yanked on my arm. “You okay?” Masako asked worriedly. Wow I didn’t know she cared. John turned around worriedly, but both he and Naru remained where they were as I got up from the ground. There was a noticeable mist surrounding the well now – the spirits were beginning to make themselves known.

John had begun to read from his bible as multiple spirits rose from the depths of the well. “Hara-san! What about now?” Naru barked, his arms crossed over his chest as he glared over at us.

“They’re attempting to escape!” she cried, “they’re numbers are beginning to drop rapidly. They’re trying to get out of the living room. They’re crying.” She was very distressed.

I turn to her, “Why don’t you try to cleanse the children’s spirits now?” I ask her, if it would help her calm down then why not? It might even help us in the long run.

“Impossible! Not as long as the woman spirit is here.”

Then suddenly Masako gasped and covered her mouth, her eyes riveted to the well. I turn to follow her gaze, and see that the darkness in the well had swelled up and risen above the mist. “She’s coming out.” Masako whispered in pure horror. We all watched the well with varying degrees of interest as the darkness solidified. A drop of water fell up from the well, splashing close to the ceiling as if it had hit invisible water.

That’s when the humanoid figure rose from the well and floated just above the floor. Around her was a cloud of darkness, but you could clearly make out her half-lidded eyes. She murmured “Tomiko” as she hovered. She was a mess, the hair falling out of her bun and the distinct look of bloating on her body. She must have drowned when she threw herself into the well all those years ago.

Those eyes…

“Tomiko is not here!” Masako yelled, “these children do not belong to you! Please set them free, can’t you see the pain they’re suffering? They just want to return to their real mothers. Let them go!” she pleaded desperately. She gasped in horror as phantom limbs began to claw their way out of the well. I shoved her behind me, not caring to be delicate, and braced for impact. But John jumped in front of us just in time to take the hit from the spirit. The attack flung him against the wall and without missing a beat, I scrambled to get up off the ground.

“John!” I yelled as I rushed over to his side and helped him sit up. He didn’t look to be injured, just winded. Meanwhile, the ghost had focused its gaze solely on Naru. Naru – as cool as a cucumber as always – just stood up straight from where he had been previously been leaning against the doors. He never broke eye contact with the ghost woman. As he strode forwards passed Masako’s collapsed form, she tried once more to reason with him.

“Naru, just give me another minute. Please, don’t!” she cried desperately, reaching out for the dark teen.

Then Naru did something that none of us had expected. He stopped about 3 ft. from the woman spirit and began to talk. “Your child is right here.” The he thrust forward his arm. In his grip was a small wooden silhouette with some kanji written down the front. “Take the children you’ve gathered with you and leave this place!” he commanded. Then he threw the figure at the spirit and as it neared her, the wooden figure transformed.

All eyes were focused on it, even the woman spirit. A golden glow began to emanate from the figure until it grew into the image of a child. She was smiling as she fell towards the woman spirit, and full of warmth. I recognized her as the small child – Tomiko – from my dreams. The woman reached forwards, accepting the hand that Tomiko had outstretched. As soon as they touched each other, the comforting golden glow had grown until it spread to the woman as she embraced her child.

“Look Karma, right there.” Masako said, a bright but small smile on her face as she pointed towards the swirling children’s spirits. They too had begun to change from the dismal cold silver to the warm and happy gold. Then the light intensified and when it faded we were the only ones left in the room. “They’re all gone now. They’ve been cleansed.” The medium confirmed.

And with that, another case was solved.

* * *

[Day 7]

“You have no idea how grateful I am for your help.” Noriko said happily as she bid us goodbye along with Ayami. “I just heard from my brother and he said that he’ll be returning as soon as he can.”

I smile, doing my best to be pleasant for just a little bit longer. It had been a long 7 days and I was eager to get home so that I could finish that last essay I had to do before I submitted all my work for the next month. “Oh, that’s great news!”

“Are you sure that it’s safe?” Noriko asked, placing a hand over her heart. “I mean, are you sure you got rid of all of the ghosts?”

Naru looked her right in the eye. “There’s no need to worry.” He assured her, although his voice was robotic.

* * *

“Last one, we’re set to go!” Bou-san called cheerfully as he put away the last monitor and closed the door of the van with a final slam.

I turned to look up at Naru. “What was that thing you threw at the ghost?” It had been bothering me since the night before, but I hadn’t had a chance to ask anyone about it until now. It may make me seem like an amateur, but right now I _am_ an amateur and I’m secure in that knowledge.

“It was a hitogata.”

I frown. “What’s that?”

Bou-san answered that question. “It’s the original form of a straw effigy doll. It’s made by carving a piece of wood into the shape of the person you want to put a spell on.

“You dummy, that’s how you put a curse on someone.” Ayako rolled her eyes, smirking.

“Spell casting has both a light and a dark side.” Naru corrected, crossing his arms and entering what I had come to call lecture mode. “A light spell helps a person while a dark spell harms them. Often the casting has a combination of light and dark sides.”

Monk nodded in agreement and turned to face Naru. “That’s right. It’s just like in Esoteric Buddhism where either approach can be used to confound a sworn enemy.

“The hitogata is simply a vessel used to contain a spirit, for example say I patterned an effigy doll after Karma. If I were to damage the hitogata, Karma would be harmed as well.” He explained. “That’s how close the effigy is to the real person.”

“So that one was–”

“Made for Tomiko.”

That’s when I got it. “Of course, so since she thought that that was her daughter, she was cleansed because her wish had been fulfilled.” I say. Naru nods, letting me know that that was the right conclusion to arrive at. Good to know. But… there was writing on the doll. I feel like a lot more goes into making a hitogata than how Bou-san explained it.

“I gotta say I’m impressed you made a successful hitogata that quickly. Is that why you left earlier?” Monk asked, smiling brightly. Is that man ever anything but bright or serious? I mean, I’ve heard him get a little cross…

“The date of Tomiko’s birth and death were necessary for the effigy to be effective.” Ha, I was right. Naru continues to explain, although he could have easily just given a yes or no answer to Monk’s question. “The woman was Oshima Hiro, and Tomiko was her only child. The girl had disappeared one day, and her body surfaced from the pond about 6 months later. A couple of years after that Oshima’s house was demolished and the house in front of us now was built in its place.”

Lin looked up. “Tomiko…” he said slowly, “do we know if she was kidnapped?” he said stiffly, and my eyes flickered up to his face. “Is that why the mother threw herself down the well?” He was talking about that dream I had. But Lin didn’t like me, and he wasn’t confident in my vision either. Maybe he was just confirming with Naru – but it would have been easier to just not mentioned it.

“There was no mention of a kidnapping.” Naru looked down before suddenly lurching up to look at the house. “The important thing is that this house is free of spirits.” It was comments like that that made me wonder. Was he planning on a cleansing from the beginning?

“I never would have pegged him as an onmyoji.” Monk said as we watched Lin and Naru move around to the front of the van and out of earshot.

“Onmyoji?”

“Fashioning a hitogata after Tomiko and cleansing the mother is pretty complicated. Only a pro could pull that off.” Monk explained. I wasn’t really so sure either. The thing is… I feel like somehow, what Monk is saying isn’t quite correct. While Naru does have an aura about him, onmyoji just doesn’t seem like the right explanation. Naru was the one to explain, but Lin disappeared for a time too.

Honestly my guess is that Lin is the onmyoji. I pride myself on my ability to read people, and I had a feeling that Lin was not stiff just because he wasn’t naturally a talkative person but because he was angry. The look in his eyes… he was angry about something and he blamed someone. Possibly someone that the rest of the team and I reminded him of. There’s very little in common between the members of the team, and it can’t be the spiritual connection.

But… onmyodo was originally a Chinese art. There’s a lot of bad blood in between China and Japan, which would explain his stiffness with us. No doubt he was raised to be angry at the Japanese, I’ve met many people like that before. And if I remember correctly, Lin has a similar aura to that of the old woman with the swamp that made me my protection charm. But I can’t really know for sure. For now, it’s best to not assume.

I was broken from my thoughts by Ayako being sarcastic. “It’s amazing isn’t it? With how young Naru is.”

“Amazing?” I ask in disbelief.

“It’s definitely cool.”

I pout slightly and then turn around when I hear footsteps from behind me. Ayami has walked out to see us. “Hey Karma!” she says brightly, running up to stand by my legs.

“What’s up, Ayami?”

She smiles, “so do you think, we’ll see each other again?” she asks shyly. My eyebrows nearly hit my hairline. This child _actually_ like me?

“I tell you what, if you ever need me, just call.” I tell her, bending down and ruffling her hair slightly, causing her to laugh. She holds out her hand, pinky finger sticking out.

“You promise?”

“Promise.”


	7. File 3 - Part 1

[November]

[Sunday]

I had been working for Naru for a long time by now – surprised at the amount of traffic that this office got. Most of it was cases that Naru rejected outright, or ones that were solved within a day and a single visit. Most of the cases that sounded promising were nothing more than a prank, and Naru lost his patience with clients easily. In cases like that I did my best to placate the clients, but I could be as off putting as Naru in some cases.

But I was the best that we had so we had to make do.

Naru still hadn’t figured out more about me, although I did catch him giving me weird looks every so often. For now, though, he didn’t seem too keen to question me outright. It was more like he was feeling me out and making notes on anything that might qualify as a slip up on my part. But this was not a game he was going to win because I’d done the whole ‘keep my identity a secret from the new group of people I’m around because I can’ thing three (one can argue that it was 4) times already. I like to think that I’d improved.

On almost all of the cases we didn’t need to call in the irregulars, even if they did keep in contact with me. Sometimes they’d drop by just to have a chat or to share a story of their own case with me. It was interesting hearing about how different they approached things. To me, Naru’s way made the most sense as it was the most logical, but Monk and the others had done well enough on their own, so either they were lucky, or their cases were simpler. I had the feeling that they accepted any and every case, so while Naru would reject the simple ones, they would take them and solve it.

I had learned over the months of working with Naru (thank fuck my hours were not that many because I was able to do the filing – in English too bitch – faster than Naru had expected, so I was able to continue running my business behind the scenes as well as going on some missions myself. There wasn’t much that required my personal attention anymore after recruiting Class E, but I was careful to keep my skills sharp. Who knows when I’ll need them?) that he was quite the fan of a mystery, and if he didn’t believe that a case was worth his time he wouldn’t take it. For the most part, I generally agreed with his decisions.

But then something changed. A high school student came to us in November still in uniform. Ah, how I do _not_ miss high school. I had dutifully gone and made some tea for both my boss and the potential client. Tea was calming, and I quickly learned that Naru fucking loved my tea and was less surly after having a cup. It helped defuse tensions and I enjoyed making it. It was calming for me too, even if I didn’t like drinking it all that much. Too much could be put into tea for me to be comfortable with drinking anything that I did not make.

Man eating at restaurants was a nightmare with my new and improved paranoia.

I placed the tea cup down in front of the girl before perching myself on the arm of Naru’s chair. I had my own notebook out and a pen poised over it to write. After Naru started making me take notes on potential cases, I’d gotten another notebook just for that. Of course, Naru liked to make his own notes, as was apparent by what he was doing now, but he liked to see what I thought of things. It was interesting, and I had no idea what he actually thought of my competence. I just made my files like I would for any mission file. He seemed to think they were good enough. “Thanks a lot.” The girl murmured, sipping the tea gratefully. 

“So you’re saying your friend has been acting strangely ever since using a Ouija board at school?” Naru said, continuing his interview with a stoic look on his face. He never faltered in his formal business appearance, no doubt an attempt to overcompensate due to his age.

I don’t have that problem much anymore. If people are coming to me for help than they are desperate. If they don’t want to believe I have the capabilities… it’s not my problem since I don’t really need them. They need me, and if they’re smart they realize this quickly.

“Yes,” the girl said softly, “she’d jump up onto her desk in the middle of class. And in gym she was eating sand from the sand box. I know it might sound crazy, but I really do think she’s possessed by a fox.” She clenched her hands in her mini skirt as she looked down. The poor dear. She was so emotional about this. Admittedly it was weird, but was it paranormal or just her friend losing her mind? “Can you help her?”

Naru snapped his notebook shut and plopped it on the table. “You should take your friend to the hospital.” He got up out of his chair, moving to walk back into his office and leaving me with the client. “She needs a doctor.” And then he was gone. I sigh heavily as I move to collect his untouched teacup. I down it in one go – best not to let it go to waste – and then turn to the girl.

“I’m sorry about my boss. He’s like this, never been good with people.” I say, letting some of my exhaustion seep into my voice. He always did this, leaving me to handle the clean up with the now angered potential client. The poor girl was shaking as she stood up abruptly. “I can try to convince him to change his mind, but please do no not get your hopes up. Not often does he change his mind.” And then I was ushering the girl out of the office before she could lose control of her emotions.

I sighed as I closed the door, leaning against it. I’d narrowly avoided a tantrum from a high school female and all I could feel was relieved. Well not only relieved. There was something that sat wrong with me in that moment. It wasn’t her story – that was as basic as you could get – but it was just… her aura. Something felt off. She was honestly scared, and she actually believed that there was a problem. I doubt that it was actually a fox spirit, but there was something more to this situation than she was telling us.

I had a feeling that we would end up taking this case, one way or another.

* * *

“Ne, Naru? I have a feeling about that case.” I tell him as I hand him a new cup of tea.

He sips it before glaring over the rim at me. “Karma, I doubt we would be able to help her. You should know by now that cases like that are almost always pranks.”

“But this one doesn’t feel like a prank.”

Before we could argue further the door to the office flies open. “Knock knock! Hey Naru, what’s up~!” the man called. He was tall and dressed in one of the most ridiculous outfits I’d ever seen. It was like a cross between a cowboy and a rock band look, and it didn’t work for the man. He was hauling a guitar on his shoulder, and I’m almost embarrassed to admit that it took me a second to recognize that that was _Monk._ “Man let me tell ya, coming to Shibuya on a Sunday is crazy.” Bou-san rushed forwards before sliding in on the couch opposite to Naru and sitting beside me with a flourish. He draped the large white jacket he was wearing over the back of the couch before removing his hat. “Karma! Be a sweetheart and get me an iced coffee.” Yup, that was Monk.

I sneer at him and scoot over and away from him. “Ugh, what on earth are you wearing?”

“What the outfit? I had a live show today!” he said smugly like I was supposed to be impressed. “I gotta admit that I love being in front of a crowd, playing in basement studios isn’t nearly as exciting.”

“You used to be in a rock band?” Oh yeah, all the judgment just went into my tone of voice.

He smiled at me anyways. “Well I didn’t _used_ to be in a rock band, Karma. It’s my main gig, I play base.”

“But how can you work at Mount Koya and be in a band? Are you just a monk of the side?” I ask curiously. This was way weird, and it was almost on the level of my past school experiences. I didn’t expect this to happen with the already eccentric group that was the rag tag SPR gang.

“Kinda,” Monk explained. “The temple belongs to my family, and my dad really wanted me to be a monk. But when I couldn’t bring CDs and stuff up there I had to make a choice.” I face faulted. _That_ was his reason? I mean, I totally get the whole wanting to be more than our parents’ dreams kind of thing (seriously my father is Satan I know what it’s like to not want to do what the parents want) but really. Oh well, he could be doing worse than playing rock star. It wasn’t like I was one to talk if you think abut it. My current main gig was working on a _ghost hunting_ team. And before that my main occupation was doing assassinations???

“You know, I see a lot of curses in rock ‘n’ roll. More than you’d imagine.” Now I _know_ he’s pulling my leg. “So, whenever something happens and an exorcism is needed, they call me since I’m already in the business, see?” He smiled at me. Okay… that was just… no. The paranormal world was weird, and this was coming from the literal son of Satan. I thought teenagers were weird, but Monk was not giving me a good example of what a responsible adult was supposed to be either.

“I get it.” I said placatingly, sipping my own cup of tea. Earl grey was Naru’s favourite, and while I did prefer green teas, the black tea wasn’t awful either. I bet you that it has something to do with Naru’s past. He’s probably English or some bullshit. That’s just another thing on top of Bou-san’s example as to why you sometimes just never know about people. Although in Monk’s case it is actually harder to believe that he’s a monk than a rocker.

Naru sighs and puts down his notebook. “How about you fill us in on what business brought you here today.” He suggested.

Immediately the joking air around Bou-san evaporated and he leaned forwards. “Oh yeah right, there really was a point to me coming here, I promise. I was hoping you’d let me pick your brain a little. There’s a local high school girl who follows our band. After our last gig she struck up a conversation with me. So, after some initial fangirl chatting, she started telling me about a certain desk at her school that’s apparently cursed.”

“Every person that’s sat there in the last 3 months has been involved in an accident. And not just that, but the same type of accident. They’ve all gotten their arms caught in the door of a train, and then been dragged by it.” His eyes hardened as he detailed the accidents that these people had managed to get into. I winced and rubbed my arm in sympathy. That had got to hurt. “A total of four people have sat in that seat since September, and all of them have fallen victim. One had only minor injuries, but the rest were seriously hurt. The teacher of that class was also affected, he went on and on about seeing ghosts and ended up in the hospital because he was coughing up blood and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong.”

“There’s all sorts of stories about strange incidents happening at that school. I’ve even heard that they think someone there is possessed.” That peaked my interest. It couldn’t be…

I turned to look at him. “Wait, possessed? Do you happen to remember if the school she was talking about was called Yuasa High School?” I ask curiously, if it was the same school, then the problem was much more serious than the girl had told us.

“Yeah that’s right, how’d you know?” Monk asked, looking at me in confusion. I was about to respond when I heard footsteps and my head whipped around to stare at the door, grabbing Naru and Bou-san’s attention.

The door opened a second later to reveal an old man standing in the doorway. “Hello, I hope I’m not intruding.” He was sharply dressed and soft-spoken. His posture was kind of hunched over, signifying that he was either nervous or something had been beating down on him emotionally for a while. I’d say that he is stressed.

“Hello, how can we help you?” I asked, moving forwards to stand a couple of feet in front of the man. He grimaces before reaching slowly into his blazer pocket and pulling out a business card and handing it t me. 

“Well you see I’m hoping you can help me.” I look over the card, taking in the fact that this man was a principal as I looked for any other relevant information. At first there was none, but then I saw what school he was here on behalf of.

“Yuasa high school?” I gasp in shock. Well wasn’t that just quite the coincidence. It was confirmed now, there was definitely more to the case that that girl brought us than we’d previously thought. Naru’s lips thinned in reaction to my statement while Monk’s eyes widened, and he gaped at the man. “You’re in luck sir, we were just discussing the happenings at your school.”

* * *

[Monday]

At promptly 8 AM, the SPR van rolled into the front are of the school. Since I lived closer to this school than SPR, I’d asked Monk to drive me on his way to the school, and we’d gotten there about 15 minutes before Naru and Lin. Both of them had put on crisp office clothing and looked quite out of place next to the casually dressed Monk. I was somewhere in between, going for casual, but not as glaringly obvious as I had with the Doll House case. I could blend in as an intern if I put on a serious face.

It was a large school, and upon Naru and Lin’s arrival, we all went inside and were lead to the office where the principal met with us. He was standing with another man who looked just as, if not more, tired than the principal. He was hunched over and had an defeated look on his face as he looked up at us. He must have been taller than everyone but Bou-san, but with how he stood he felt smaller than my disappointing stature.

“We’re grateful for your time. Mr. Yoshino is our guidance counsellor, he’ll give you a full tour of the school.” Gods, they both looked exhausted. There were dark bags under their eyes, and you could almost _smell_ the desperation and weak hope leaking off of the two as they looked at us.

“Hi there, it’s nice to meet you.” His voice was deep and sad. “As you requested, a conference room has been cleared for you to set up in.” Then he led us out of the room and down the hallway. “We have announced that anyone who wants to speak with you shall go there.” The room that had been given to us wasn’t the most spacious room that I’d seen, but this was a big school, so it was more than enough room for us to work in. It was bigger than what we had at the Doll House.

This would be our home base for however long it took us to solve this case. Naru, forever a man of business, immediately turned to Lin. “We should get the equipment set up right away. Lin?”

The tallest man nodded, “right.”

I turned to move to leave along with Lin, but the counsellor interrupted us before we could leave by asking a question. “Wait, are you the one who’s in charge here?” he asked Monk. Bou-san raised an eyebrow.

“No, sir. You want him.” He shook his head and jerked his thumb over his shoulder to point at a pokerfaced Naru who was watching the exchange with a hard stare. Yoshima-san looked taken aback and somewhat uneasy as he stared at the four of us. None of us had a friendly facial expression on anymore. While Naru and Lin were always stiff faced with clients, Bou-san and I usually tried to be more open with the clients so that they will work better with us.

There was of course, one notable exception to this, and that was when someone questioned whether Naru should be in charge or not. When it happened the first time, I had been shocked that both Monk and Ayako had immediately hardened their gazes and gotten defensive around Naru. They had been like that at first too, but it seems that the by genius had proven himself to the irregular members of the SPR team. We were all willing to defend him. I hope Naru knew how precious that that was.

“What’s wrong.” Naru demanded.

The man seemed a bit reluctant to respond, but he got over his hesitance and began to speak. “Before the students come in, I’d like, to tell you about something.” Yoshima-san said slowly. He looked apprehensive and nervous, but he spoke nonetheless. Bou-san and I immediately lost the hard looks in our facial expressions and glanced at each other. That was not what we were expecting. Even Naru’s gaze softened as he answered the counsellor.

“Yes, of course. Have a seat please.”

We all sat around the table, Lin pulling out his laptop and me subtly pulling out my notebook that held the case notes I already had. Maybe I would catch something that the other two didn’t. I was familiar enough with the human side of things, so if something like that was involved I might be able to recognize it before they did. A the very least I could tell Naru about odd behaviour.

“You see, um, at night I’ve been hearing this knocking sound. It wouldn’t stop, so finally I got up and went to open the curtain. There was an apparition of a ghostly hand just tapping on the glass of my window. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from and I immediately closed the curtains once more. Since then I’ve barely gotten a wink of sleep.” Well that explains the eye bags.

Naru calmly began to question him, now that his tale was over. “Has anyone else in your house heard the knocking?” he folded his hands together and rested them in front of his mouth as he stared down the man in front of him.

“Yes, but it doesn’t seem to bother them as much as it does me.”

“I see.”

* * *

“Your name was Kiyomi Ito.”

“Yes.”

“When you came to see us, I believe you said you thought your friend was possessed by a fox. Is she here?”

“No sir. She’s at home.”

“And you also said she was jumping up on desks and eating sand?”

“There’s other stuff too. One time she dove into the pool with her uniform on. It was like 40 degrees that day.”

We started off the first interrogations with the girl that had originally come to us with a case about her friend. She had obviously left out some details – either on purpose of just because she forgot – so I figure that Naru just wanted to clear up some facts before moving on and getting other stories from other girls.

“Has your friend ever hurt anybody?”

“Oh no, sir.”

“When she started acting strangely, why did you believe she might be possessed by a fox? Why didn’t you think that she just might be sick?”

“Because,” she closed her eyes, “she actually said ‘I am the white fox of the harvest god.’ It all happened after that darned Ouija board. When everyone was leaving, she told us she thought she was possessed. I told her there was no way, but she said she felt really weird. And then the next day she started acting differently.” She looked down at her lap, guilt clear in her facial expression.

“Where were you using the Ouija board?”

“In classroom 1-3.”

I was only able to catch snippets of conversations as I made my way in and out of the base along with Bou-san to take in some equipment. I did my best to set everything up as fast as possible so that I could get a grasp on the genuine reactions of these girls who were coming forwards. I didn’t want to have to ask Lin if he could send the files to me, but with how much equipment we needed to bring in, it was looking like I would have to.

* * *

“Look the track team locker room is really creepy. The lockers just fall over by themselves and our equipment will move around. At first, we thought someone was just playing a joke so some of us hid to try and catch them in the act. No one knows how it happened exactly, but all of the shot-put balls were lined up in the middle of the floor.”

The girl who was telling this story was still in her sports uniform, looking rumpled and out of place. She was as freaked out as some of the other girls that we’d passed on our way in and out. She just seemed kind of annoyed, although her eyes were wide with sincerity. An interesting story, but why the locker room? Why what was seemingly harmless pranks.

I didn’t get to listen to the rest of this conversation.

* * *

“Last month some friends and I were doing a test of courage in the storage room in the gym. I’ve been seeing a bunch of weird shadows ever since. One of the other girls even swears she’s seeing ghosts coming out of her desk so…”

“During class?”

This had to be the at least the 5th person that had come forward with a story so far. Hers was more concrete in the paranormal side and rather worrying. It was similar to Yoshima-san’s story, only it was more offensive. The girl had actually been physically affected by the apparition.

“Yeah,” the girl nodded, “she said it was like all of a sudden she couldn’t move. And it felt like someone was touching her stomach. And when she looked down to see, an arm had been in the process of reaching out to grab her. She said it happened all the time and her stomach just wouldn’t stop hurting. She ended up having to go to the hospital.”

* * *

“Is anybody in here?” another girl called loudly as she opened the door to our base. As soon as she spotted the long-haired monk the girl just waltzed right in and smiled brightly. “Norio! You actually came!”

“Hey!” Monk said sheepishly, turning to look awkwardly at us. “Meet my friends. That handsome devil is Shibuya-san, the director of Shibuya Psychic Research. And the red head is his assistant, Karma.” I looked the girl up and down before deeming her not worth my time and continuing with wiring up the monitors and looking at the files over Naru’s shoulder.

“Hi! My name is Yuko Takahashi, it’s nice to meet you.” She was way to chipper. I didn’t like her. From behind her, stumbled in a girl with a single crutch and lots of bandages on her legs. On the same side she had a sling holding an obviously injured arm aloft. I ignored her for now in favour of trying to be polite to the loud girl who had invaded the base.

“Oh. I suppose me too.” Then I turned to stare curiously at Monk who was pointedly not looking me in the eye. “Norio?” I ask skeptically, raising an eyebrow mockingly at the clearly embarrassed monk.

“That’s what they decided to call me in the band.” He explained to me before turning to the newcomer. “See my real name is Houshou right, so–”

And then captain buzzkill himself interrupted. “So, getting back to the point, I see that you’re one of the victims. Were you one involved in an accident after sitting at a certain desk?” whoop there was that bad mood again. I turned around and began digging in my bag for that thermos of tea that I had prepared beforehand just for this purpose. I moved over to one of the other tables to hide the use of my powers as I reheated the liquid inside before pouring it in a tea cup and handing it to Naru.

“Yes, I was the second one it happened to.” Ah, so before they realized that there was a pattern then. “The train arrived at my stop and before the doors opened, I stepped out and started to walk away like normal. Then it was like someone pulled my arm back and then I was caught. I wasn’t dragged very far but my shoulder was dislocated, and my legs look pretty bad.”

“Was there anyone standing near the door?” she shook her head.

“No one,” she confirmed. “In fact, I remember the train was pretty much empty. Just a few people were there.” She informed Naru with a certainty that I wouldn’t have expected.

“Do you have any idea what the connection is between that desk and these accidents?”

The two girls turned to look at each other. “I don’t, do you?” the injured one said. The other girl, the chipper annoying one who’s eyes had not left Naru’s face since she entered, shook her head.

Naru leaned forwards. “I’d really like to see this desk.” He subtly suggested.

“Oh sure, I can take you to it.” Yuko said.

We entered classroom 2-5, and sure enough, it was a normal classroom full of desks. Amazing. None of them looked out of the ordinary to the naked eye either, so we would be relying on Yuko’s honesty to see which desk it is. “It’s back there.” She said, pointing at the very last desk in the row next to the windows. Naru confidently moved forwards and rested two fingertips on the wooden surface of the desk and he looked to be concentrating.

What was he doing? Was there some type of ability that he could harness by touch? Would that explain the aura of power that he held? I would need to research this further. It was an odd thing to do. Perhaps he was only touching the desk to check its temperature, but any residual spiritual activity would have long since passed if it was directly human. “Is there anyone sitting here now?” he asked calmly, looking off into space while still looking at the desk. To the average observer, it would look like he was simply resting his hand on the desk.

I saw differently. I saw how his eyes unfocused slightly and how his fingers were tensed as if touching the object with as little of his skin as possible. I would need to note this for later.

“No one wants to. The girl that was sitting here got hurt so badly that she’s still in the hospital.” Yuko said, looking down at the desk with wide eyes.

“And the desk has always been in this position?” I break in, asking curiously seeing that Naru wasn’t really paying all that much attention anymore. The girl was none the wiser, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. Naru was no doubt going to be underestimated in this, and I already know that I am. Why make it worse?

“Uh huh. Just like that.”

* * *

When Naru and I returned to the base, it was to a surprising sight. There was a gaggle of school girls crowded in the room and around an overwhelmed Monk who had been backed up against the glass of the window. The sun had begun to set now – it must have taken a long time to do all of those interviews. “Hey, what’s up?” he greeted us, sweat apparent on his brow.

Lin was still sitting at the table and typing away without care. I smirked while Naru just sort of stared at the group of girls in the room. He seemed to be contemplating yelling to get them to leave, but then he decided against it and went over to have a whispered conversation with Lin about whatever he was writing. Monk looked almost heartbroken at how Naru abandoned him.

I sighed, I guess it would be up to me to both save Monk and get everyone else out of the room so that Naru could work and give us a recap on what happened as well as our next steps with the case. I stalk forwards, standing about a foot away from the edge of the crowd. “HEY!” I bark. It’s so sudden and sharp (not to mention fucking loud) that it makes everyone in the room jump. The girls all screamed and whirled, while Monk who had been watching as I yelled to get their attention, just looked shocked at the fact that I was able to get that loud.

Even Naru and Lin looked up from what they were doing for a moment, surprise evident in their eyes. I was standing in a power stance (not a ridiculous one, I have self-respect) with my feet shoulder width apart and my arms crossed over my chest. I smirked at the frightened looks on everyone’s faces before speaking again in the same authoritative tone that I used whenever someone was either being an idiot or I was giving commands that I expected to be followed without question.

“Ladies, while I’m sure that ‘Norio’ here appreciates your support, I’m afraid you’re all quite insufferable at the moment and it would be in everyone’s best interest for you to leave before our boss gest any more… annoyed. Move along now.” I smirked at the half-hearted glares that some of the more persistent ones gave as they walked past me. Some stuck their noses in the air and stomped out, while others simply smiled sheepishly and scurried out of the room. Once the room was empty save for the people who were supposed to be there, I turned to Bou-san. “You’re welcome.”

Monk sagged heavily against the glass before collapsing against the table and laying his chin down on a pile of case files. “What the heck is going on at this school? I can’t believe all the craziness happening here.” He groaned. “Who’s going to exorcise it all? There’s no way I can do it alone.”

“Sorry Monk, I wish I could help but that isn’t my area of expertise.” I grin at the man as I slide forward a mug of tea that I’d made after seeing Naru brooding by the window. The black-haired teen was glaring at his reflection and had been ever since I’d yelled.

“Something’s not right here.” He announced. Well thank you sugar, that was a very helpful comment. However, it did seem to catch Monk’s attention because he actually sat up from his defeated slump. “Individually, these cases are not a big deal, but all together they’re abnormal. Of course, that is assuming that they’re all true.” He turned away from his reflection and settled his eternally glaring eyes on the both of us. Oh wow, he was taking this thing seriously, and d I detect a hint of worry? “But with all of these similarities, there’s got to be something here.”

He does have a point though. This goes way beyond coincidence.

* * *

[Tuesday]

We stayed the night at the school, and called in Ayako, John and Masako. They arrived on Tuesday morning bright and early.

“With this many occurrences, I think we need to move quickly. I propose we exorcise anything we come across. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll come back together and figure out something else.” Naru said, speaking to the gathered ensemble. He was giving us the plan of action for the day so that we knew what to do and weren’t bumbling around like idiots. “I’d like Miss Hara to take a look around the school. You should start with the desk and when you’re done, head over to the track team locker room.”

Masako smiled happily behind her kimono sleeve. “Please, I’d be more comfortable if you just call me Masako.” Wow, was she flirting with him? Amazing. But the boss isn’t like that, he doesn’t typically refer to anyone by their first names like ever. Naru sighed and moved on, not dignifying her with an answer. Good.

“Join her, Ms. Matsuzaki.” He said in a very long-suffering tone of voice. “Exorcise anything you see fit.”

“Hold on, are you sure that there’s nothing else that you’d like to say to Masako.” Ayako said suddenly, looking at Naru. “I ask, because it seems to me that lately you’ve been extra courteous to our celebrity friend.” Ayako smirked, innocently tapping her finger on her chin as she stared slyly at Naru.

He was quick to change the subject. “We can stand around all day talking about things that don’t matter, but I’d much prefer to see you in action. Wouldn’t you rather get to work and impress us or waste everyone else’s time.” Boom, smack down. You could see Ayako’s internal sweat drop at Naru’s effective dressing down. The damn bastard even looked smug.

“Due to the number of cases, we don’t have enough equipment to send with you. So, you’ll have to rely on your own instincts.” As he spoke you could see just how much he hated leaving anything in this investigation up to instinct. I mean, I loved technology and research as much as the next person, but I relied on my instincts all the time. We were given them for a reason, we should hone them so that they become more reliable. “Monk and John, same goes for you.”

“You got it.”

“Sure thing, no worries.”

Naru nodded in satisfaction. “Lin and I will continue the investigation. Karma, you wait here for everyone to report back.” I nod sharply even though that’s not something I really wanted to do. I felt useless in this situation, my own exorcism abilities not being of any kind of use in this situation. A. people didn’t know that I could even perform an exorcism, and B. my kind of exorcism wasn’t always the most effective for a spirit. If I could kill it than I could do the thing, but if it’s just sort of there…

Either way, Naru was the boss and all I had to do was wait at base for the day. I could use the time to finish up some of my school work as well as get ahead on the paper work for the Tricksters’ latest endeavors.

“Alright, let’s begin.”

I slam my head down on the table in front of me as I look in frustration at the latest school report I needed to do. Why the fuck was there so many essays. There did not need to be that many surely… the reports from Kyoya and Nagisa were as always, easy and pleasant to get through, so that went really fast. Now all that was left was either goofing off and getting nothing done or working on projects for my finances class. I groan as I delete another paragraph and begin to rewrite it.

I’m about halfway through a conclusion when the door to the base opened up rather abruptly. There was a student there, Yuko, if I remember correctly. “Holy crap, I thought there might have been an emergency.” I say quietly. The girl comes forwards, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. I just thought that Norio would be here.” She pulled out a chair across from me and just sat her ass down as if she belonged here. “So, what are you doing? Are you busy?” I smiled tightly.

“Nah, not really. Just sort of holding down the fort and getting some homework done.”

“Oh, I see.” She said, staring at me. “How’s the exorcism going?” she asks curiously. I decide to indulge her due to the fact that she was the first person I’d seen in hours by this point.

I tap my chin thoughtfully as I think on how I can answer this and sound like I know what I’m doing. “Well you see, we’ve kind of just gotten started. But I just don’t think that it will be that easy. There’s just so many cases here.” Before I said it out loud, I hadn’t realized that I’d come to that realization. But yeah, I didn’t think that this would be a simple case. There was just too much that had happened here. Even simple cases often turned into things that are much worse, and while I know that sometimes cases can look bad but end well (the Kappa case all that way back at True Cross), I didn’t think that this was one of them.

I can’t really explain it, but I know that we’re going to have some trouble with this case. “Yeah I know.” Yuko says, breaking me out from my thoughts. “It really makes you wonder what’s going on at this school. Curses and ghosts and supernatural powers…” Wait. Supernatural powers? Curses? _None_ of that had been mentioned in the interviews. “… like where’s the UFO you know?”

I break in, sitting up straight and looking at her. “Wait hold on. Supernatural powers?” I ask, causing her to lean back slightly as she looked into my eyes with her own wide ones. She blinked at me a couple times and I turned away from the confused girl. “Never mind, hold that thought. I need to call my boss.” I reached forward through the mess of papers on the table and grabbed the walkie talkie that Naru had left behind.

“Naru, you need to get back here now. One of the students has come forwards with some information that might be really important.” There was a moment of silence before the walkie talkie crackled to life in my hand.

_“I’ll be there in a minute, Karma. We are already on our way back.”_

Yuko still looked confused, but she sat in silence while I put away all of my stuff and moved to sit on the window sill so that when Naru got here he could take that seat. I perched the laptop I’d brought with me on my lap and then watched the door as we waited in silence. I could tell that Yuko was uncomfortable, but I was content with that fact. I don’t know what it was about her that set me off, but I wouldn’t be losing any sleep if she was uncomfortable.

Soon enough Naru arrived and he moved quickly to sit down and open up his notebook. “Begin.” He said as he looked expectantly at Yuko.

“Did you say Kazai Panic?”

“Yeah, there’s this third-year girl named Chiaki Kazai who could bend a spoon with just the power of her mind. It was just after summer vacation. Suddenly everyone at school knew her name and bending spoons and other supernatural stuff became a really big deal. The school was divided over the whole thing. Some people believed in it, while others didn’t. Then one day, Kazai was called up in front of everyone during morning assembly. One of the teachers demanded that she prove that she really had powers by bending a key right then and there.”

“After that, things got really bad. A group of teachers started to attack her credibility. They claimed that it was all a trick to make a fool out of them. I guess that sent Kazai over the edge, because then she yelled back at them ‘I’ll curse you to death!’ and after that all these crazy things started happening around the school. Like with the desk and the track locker room. People were starting to get frightened. They said it had to be because of Kazai’s curse. I’m pretty sure that’s why she hasn’t been coming to class lately.”

“When she’s at school, she’s usually hiding out in the biology prep room. I don’t blame her.”

* * *

And that’s basically how Naru and I ended up outside of said biology prep room. After thanking the girl and sending her on her way back to class, Naru had demanded that we go see this Kazai immediately. Lin had been left in the base to take down all of the information that he and Naru had gathered earlier today, which left me to go with Naru because separating was never a good idea. Naru also pointed out that I was better with people than him and if there was conflict I might be able to diffuse the situation.

At this point I still don’t know if it was a complement or not, but that was fine.

Also, if I was the good cop, then we have a pretty big problem.

Naru knocked lightly on the door, getting a harried “come in!”

He opened the door to see the figures of a girl in uniform and a teacher. “Excuse me, but we’re looking for a miss Chiaki Kazai.” He said in a monotone. The school girl turned away from us, hiding her face. This was obviously Kazai, but the teacher seemed reluctant to let us speak to her.

“May I ask what this is regarding?” the woman asked softly but with hidden strength in her voice. She was a mousy little thing, maybe an inch taller than me. She had light hair, much like Monk’s and was probably half or fully foreign much like Naru was. Her eyes wandered over us in suspicion and I hardened my stance behind Naru, appearing just as defensive as the woman was.

Naru didn’t have any qualms with answering with the truth. “I’m here investigating with Shibuya Psychic Research. And I would very much like to speak with Kazai-san.” He said rather forcefully, his own stance not wavering.

“Oh wait, what was your name?” the biology professor – or so I would assume judging by our surroundings – said as she rose to greet us. I had a bad feeling about sharing full names, but I let it be. It was just residual paranoia from hiding my identity all of the time.

We still hadn’t entered the room, and this was no doubt a strategic move so that we don’t frighten Kazai any more than she already was. The both of us were rather imposing figures in our own way after all. “My name is Kazuya Shibuya.”

The woman smiled, “ah yes, the principal did say that there would be some people coming to investigate all the strange things happening around the school. It’s so good to meet you both. Would you please come in. My name is Kai Obusuna, and I teach biology here.”

“Obusuna,” Naru remarked, “that’s quite the unusual name you have there.”

The woman, Obusuna, just smiled and offered no explanation. “So, you’re looking for Kazai. I’m assuming you’d like to ask her about the incident this past September.” The teacher was full of smiles that were far too bright. She made me nervous, but then again, I never really trusted any kind of teacher. Not after what the teacher did to me in second year middle school. Teachers weren’t to be trusted unless they’d earned it and proven they wouldn’t betray me later.

Karasuma-sensei and Irina-sensei had proven their worth. Even Korosensei, when he had still been alive, had earned my trust. Nobody after that, especially not my brother. He’d been a fool back then, and there was no way that I’d trust that he wouldn’t grow to hate me eventually. It hasn’t happened so far, but I’m not holding my breath.

“Leave me alone!” Ah, so she speaks. My eyes flicker towards the girl sitting on the stool. She was plain, had long black hair that covered most of her features when she looked down. “I have nothing to say.” Her voice was full of venom as she curled in on herself and away from us.

“Kazai, I think you should talk to them and clear up any confusion by telling these people exactly what happened.” Obusuna said, moving back to comfort the high school student.

Kazai was having none of it. “Why should I? So that they can laugh at me too?” Bitch.

“But they investigate psychic phenomena all the time. So, they’re not going to immediately reject or laugh at you or the things you say.” The teacher said placatingly. Then the teen turned around and I was immediately reminded of Kuroda. I knew she was some kind of psychic. But how powerful was she really? Bending spoons was child’s play. It was easy enough to fake. Heck, I could bend one with just my strength even before the demonic inheritance.

“Okay, so what do you wanna know.” She was glaring at us, her eyes full of hatred and I was 150% ready to knock her off her high horse but for now, I was going to let Naru take the lead.

Naru opened with “we’ve heard some very interesting stories about you” and immediately I knew that this wasn’t going to go well. “Stories that connect you to these events. That you have powers. The kinds of powers that bend spoons and keys at will.”

“Those aren’t just stories. They’re the truth. I can bend them, but I don’t expect _you_ to believe me.” Kazai snapped. I narrow my eyes at her, suppressing a grin when she flinched away from my gaze.

I glare right on back at her. “Watch yourself girl, arrogance never worked in anyone’s favour. So, what if you can bend a spoon? You don’t need to turn it into a big deal. Lots of people can bend spoons even without supernatural powers. If you can do it with your mind, kudos to you. If you can’t, it’s not that big of a loss. Remember that.” I hiss, getting a slight warning look from Naru.

“Why wouldn’t I? Like my assistant said, you’re not the only one who can bend a spoon you know.” Naru said calmly, so blatantly implying that he could bend a spoon.

Kazai looked at him in shock. “You can?” well my speech went in one ear and out the other. Even Naru seemed to have forgotten my little outburst.

“I can, but even if I couldn’t, any psychic researcher would believe in PK.”

Kazai glared at him for a moment before rushing forwards to the table which for some reason had a cup of spoons on it. She grabbed one and jabbed it forwards at Naru, regaining her little bout of arrogance after the momentary shock at discovering that Naru could bend a spoon. “Then show me.” She sneered, a challenge clear in her eyes. Bitch, did she not hear what I said? Was that ignored? Did I say it out loud or did I just say it quiet enough that only Naru heard it well enough to decipher my words.

“I guess I have no choice.” Naru said, he took the spoon and held it up to eye level. Looking at the other’s faces, it was obvious that I was the only one to hear the sarcasm in his voice. He knew he had a choice, but at this point he had no idea that I had any psychic abilities and I’d already played my hand by bristling at her arrogance, so she was unlikely to trust me at this stage.

Naru stared for a moment at the spoon before reaching forwards with his other hand and tipping the spoon head back until it was bent at a 90-degree angle. Then against what I would have expected, the spoon bowl broke off and fell to the floor. My eyes widened as I saw just how he did it. The constant aura of suppressed energy around Naru had focused in on the spoon and the barely restrained volatile waves had pushed the spoon. It was obviously not visible to anyone else in the room – even Naru. But now I knew that this was what he was hiding.

Kazai didn’t have that aura around her. Neither had Kuroda, and Kuroda had been decently powerful. Naru had a lot of power and he was deliberately hiding it. So why did he show it now?

“Over summer vacation I was watching one of those late-night shows, you know? This one was about spoon bending. So, I got a spoon and I started trying it myself. And eventually I learned to do it. I can’t break them like you though.” Kazai confessed. So, I was right, she wasn’t all that powerful. So why was she acting like such an arrogant brat????

“That was in the summer? But you can still do it right?”

The challenge in Naru’s voice was just enough to set the girl off again. “Of course!” she yelled, violently grabbing a spoon and glaring at it for a good 30 seconds with nothing happening. She may have powers, but she clearly had no actual control over them. She hunched over but there was no movement in the tiny aura around her.

“STOP! Right now.” Nary yelled abruptly, shocking Kazai enough that she looked up. “You were about to bend the spoon over the edge of the chair, weren’t you? You do realize that if anyone caught you doing that tick they’d never believe you again.” Naru accused.

Kazai wasn’t about to admit it, but even I had seen her begin to press the spoon to the edge of the chair. “You’re lying. I really can bend a spoon!” she said defensively.

“Any psychic researcher knows that psychic abilities can be affected by outside sources and are therefore unstable. When you can’t do something, it’s okay to admit defeat. The people who called you a fake never believed in you anyway, so don’t worry about what they think.” He advised, but it didn’t help the girl all that much.

“It’s easy for you to say,” she spat out, gripping the edges of her skirt in frustration as she refused to meet anyone’s eyes. “But you don’t have to deal with how mean people can be if you can’t do it. Ms. K was treated horribly by the others just because she defended me.”

“Oh don’t worry about me please,” the teacher then turns to look at us, her face morphing into one of sorrow. “It’s been incredibly difficult to watch. I’ve felt so bad for how they were acting towards her.” She told us, wrapping her arms gently around the distraught high school girl.

“And everyone in the biology club quite saying that we were doing something crazy or evil.” Kazai’s upper lip trembled and she hid her eyes from view behind her overgrown bangs. “I just don’t understand why this is happening to me.” Oh my god, teens these days just were not equipped to handle being bullied. Honestly… I was losing my ability to empathize or whatever. Boo hoo, people hate you. People are always going to hate you. The best choice of action is to hate them back and be better at it until you find people that don’t hate you.

“Is that why you cursed them?”

Kazai looked up at us. “Well yeah, I said that but come on! It’s not like I could really do it, could I?” Now she looks like she’s beginning to doubt in whether she’s at fault here or not. Honestly, with how little grasp of her powers she has and how little there even is to work with (when it is the least controlled technically it should be easy to break things and yet she could only _bend_ the spoon?), I doubt she’d be able to curse anyone, let alone an entire school. Obusuna hugged the girl close, and Naru and I took that as our cue to leave the room so that they could have some privacy.

* * *

“You know, I might feel sorry for Kazai; all this fear and hatred over something as small as spoons. Teens can really be idiots, but honestly, she could work to not make it worse. She’s letting it get to her, and if she just ignored them or even faked that she believed that she was above plebeian hatred, then things would work out better.” I grumble as we walk through the halls. “Honestly it’s bending spoons. I doubt she has the power to curse even one person! Her power is so weak that you can’t even see it move. Not like yours.”

Naru stops abruptly in the hall, turning to look at me in shock for a moment. Was it something I said? Oh wait… normal people would theoretically not be able to see if Naru used his powers or not. “Did you say, you can _see_ PK?” he asked slowly, not turning to look at me from where he stopped in front of me. His voice was low, and I knew that I needed to tread lightly, even if I was confused as to why it was such a big deal.

“I mean yeah? You always had this weird pulsing aura around you, and you used it to make the spoon bend.” I say, looking at him in slight confusion. Surely this wasn’t that rare for people to see it? His aura is so oppressive; it’s very volatile too – like he is desperately trying to keep control over it, but some is slipping out from between his fingers. Had I given away something that he could use against me in our unspoken war to figure each other out?

He whirled around to look at me with a surprisingly open look on his face. His emotionless mask had fallen and now his entire face was easy to read – like an open book. “You shouldn’t be able to see that. The last person who could–… never mind. How can you see it?” he demanded, looking almost melancholy for a moment as he remembered who the last person he’d encountered that could see his power was. That person had obviously been someone close to him; someone that he had lost. I frowned for a moment as I grasped all of this new information.

“I don’t know? I can sort of see the others as well, like the amount of power they have. Each one feels different too. Yours is angry and sometimes barely restrained. Other times it feels cold and threatening. Like, that’s how I figured out that Lin was the one who made the hitogata in the last case. Well that and natural deductions.” I explain, trying to really think about when I first realized that I could see the power waves. I mean, I had to concentrate for a moment, but otherwise, I could see it sort of like out of the corner of my eye? It was weird.

“After this case we might want to test to see if you’re psychic or if this is just a fluke.” Then he kept walking until the both of us reached the door to the base. He reached out to grab the doorknob before suddenly turning to face me. “Karma, I need to ask a favour of you. I’d appreciate it if you can keep the spoon bending thing a secret from the others. Especially Lin. It would also be prudent to not mention the possibility of your own powers. We don’t know anything about it as of now.”

“Sure, no problem. I won’t tell them, I promise.” I say easily, it would be no loss to me if I were to keep this a secret. Naru was slightly paler, now that I thought about it, so that might explain why he didn’t want Lin to know. Ordinarily, I might be concerned, but John already knows I’m more than I appear, and Naru is on his way to figuring it out. When everything comes to light, it’s going to be a ‘you keep my secret I keep yours’ kind of situation. Of that, I have no doubt. Until then, I could do what little I can to make sure that he trusts me enough to keep my secret.

“Thank you.”

Then he opened the door and we were immediately greeted with the voice of an angry Bou-san. “But that can’t be true!” he yelled. The others were all standing in a loose circle, with Lin in the background watching. Monk and John were on one side while Ayako and Masako were on the other. There looked to be a stand off. Masako – because really who else could it be? – had clearly given Monk some news that he wasn’t all that happy about.

“Well I assure you it is. I’m telling you there are no spirits here.” Masako insisted, her normally serene voice taking on a harder tone as she was questioned yet again. “I’ve looked all over and if there were, I would know by now.”

Monk leaned down so that he could look the medium in the eyes as he snarled, come on, there at least has to be something in that desk. And don’t forget about the four accidents in a row.” Okay, but… hear me out here… what if… it’s a curse??? I mean not one done by Kazai, but clearly something’s wrong here. I don’t see how they would assume it’s a spirit. I would assume malevolent human taking revenge a step further than simply making a fool out of someone.

“There is some kind of deception going on in this school.” Masako insisted. It’s that damn biology teacher. She was setting me off.

“Oh, and I guess all of the students and teachers are in on it. You gotta be kidding me!”

That’s when John decided to try and defuse the situation. “You gotta relax mate.” But I honestly doubted that this would do anything good. And of course, Ayako decided to speak up then and add more fuel to the fire.

“You know, Masako’s theory might not be accurate.” She pointed out helpfully.

“Well I’m certain it’s more accurate than yours, Matsuzaki-san. In fact, Matsuzaki-san, I wonder if anything you’ve ever said has been accurate.” And the four of the SPR irregulars descended back into a bickering mess.

Naru sighed as he walked over to Lin, unnoticed by the rest of the room. “Lin,” he said softly, “let’s get back to work.” He sounded really tired… it looks like his powers drain him a lot. Note to self – help him avoid using his powers until I know more about them. No unnecessary risks.

“Of course.”

Seeing that Naru was going to continue this investigation with or without his team, I decided to take matters into my own hands and I whistled sharply. I jerk my head over to the two serious members of the team and the others quieted down sheepishly.

Monk glanced awkwardly over at the SPR owner and his primary assistant before quickly thinking of something useful that he could do. “Hey what do you say we take another look around?” Monk said, turning to look at John.

“I’m right behind you.”

Ayako sniffed and glared at Masako. “You may want to look closely this time.”

“It won’t matter, I’ll still be right.”

And then… I was left alone in the base once more. Wonderful. I didn’t have any more work that I could do, and all I could really do was think about the case. Masako didn’t believe that there was spirits here, and neither did I. I was leaning more towards the idea of a curse or something. Whether Kazai and Obusuna-sensei were involved in the cursing or not remained unclear.

I leaned my head down against the table as I began to feel incredibly drowsy. Like the pass out kind of drowsy. I hadn’t felt like this in what must have been forever. My eyes were just closing against my will, and I could _feel_ my head beginning to droop before plopping on the table when I became too tired to hold it up. Dammit, Naru will kill me if I fall asleep here.

* * *

_I stood on a small glowing white circle in a black abyss. The glowing dots from my previous dreams were there too, but they didn’t allow me to see any further around my surroundings. After looking around for a moment in shear confusion, I spotted another figure standing in the darkness. It was Naru – well dream Naru. Once he saw that he had my attention, he reached out with one arm and turned to point at something in the distance._

_Slowly, almost too slowly, my head turned to look, and in the darkness an odd schematic of the school building had appeared. In various areas of the school, there were these blue fires. They looked so much like my own flames that I was taken aback for a moment._

_“Foxfires.”_

_Naru’s voice echoed and carried over towards me despite how far away he was standing. It was odd. I didn’t feel safe here. Why were there foxfires? What, were foxfires? Why were they here?_

_What was going on at this school?_


	8. File 3 - Part 2

[December]

[Wednesday]

_“Nothing out of the ordinary.” Naru said as he and Lin watched John, Monk, and Ayako perform exorcisms in the various haunted places around the school._

_“No remarkable temperature changes to report either.” Lin was displeased, it was obvious in the bored tone of his voice. He was making notes on a clip board as Naru leaned over a laptop. Both men wore serious looks on their faces, and now that they were out of the sight of all the others, their worry at the situation we’d found ourselves in was plain to see._

_Suddenly, there was an audible wooden clatter as a door was slid open. Naru whirled around to see that Masako had just entered the room. “Of course not, because there are no spirits in this building.” She insisted quietly in the way that she does._

_“There are still unexplained events happening here.” Naru pointed out before turning back to the laptop. “It is imperative that we keep investigating until we determine the cause.”_

_“Fine. But no matter how hard you look, you won’t find spirits.”_

_Just outside of the door, Kazai was waiting and watching; listening as the two paranormal experts spoke about her case. She had an odd look on her face, as she turned and walked down the hallways._

_Abruptly, I was drawn out of the vision and back into the inky nothingness. There were small blue fires – too close to the colour of Satan’s flames for my liking at this point – dotted around the school. It was like I was looking at it from an aerial view – seeing into the school as if the walls were clear. There were so many foxfires burning all over the building. Is this a dream or–_

* * *

I snap awake sharply, sitting up in the chair. I was in the base, and everything was normal. The only problem is that that stupid dream was still at the forefront of my mind. I dutifully jot it down in my case notes before looking around the room. For some reason, I had a really bad feeling about this case. I had learned to trust my instincts long ago, and I knew that something was going to happen. I need to be vigilant.

I hope that the others will be able to complete their exorcisms without trouble so that we can leave.

My eyes flit all over the room, doing a cursory check to make sure that everything was still safe. When my eyes fell on the slightly ajar door, I saw that Kazai was glaring at me through the space. Jeez, what’s got her panties in a twist? Seriously, was she intentionally supporting the rumours about her with her actions? She claimed to hate how people saw her, and yet she pulls shit like this. Unbelievable. As soon as she saw that I saw her, she began to slip away and move further down the hall.

“Wait a second. Kazai–” I called as I got up and went to stand in the doorway. She had stopped about 2 meters away from me.

“Yeah?” wow. Boy oh boy did she have an attitude. A serious chip on her shoulder if I’ve ever seen one. _Damn_. I really don’t like her.

“Um well, can I help you with anything?” I don’t really know why I decided that I should talk to her, but there was just something _wrong_ about this entire situation. Something off that I couldn’t explain even if I tried.

“No thanks.”

“Oh.” I turn to go back into the base when suddenly Kazai begins to speak again.

“Are all those people friends of yours?” I frown in confusion and hum. “It looks like their trying to perform some sort of exorcism.”

I’m really confused now. What exactly is she trying to weasel out of me? “Oh, them yeah. Monk, Ayako and John are my friends I guess, but actually they’re more like my co-workers.” I muse. I hadn’t really had the chance to get close to any of these people, but I suppose that they are as good of friends to me as the cram class had been in those beginning months before the damn gallery mission.

“And Hara Masako?”

“Like I said. Co-workers.” I press on. “But of course, you’d know her, I keep forgetting that Masako is kind of famous.” It was really irritating. Masako just had her head so far up her own ass sometimes, it was infuriating.

Kazai still hadn’t turned around at this point. She was doing the dramatic ‘talk down the hallway’ with me. “Yeah. Saw her on TV.” Her tone was clipped. She didn’t want to be talking to me, so why was she? “What has she said about this school? That there are a lot of evil spirits hanging around?” She’s fishing for information. Dammit. Fuck, what do I say? I have no idea what Naru’s plan of action concerning Kazai is. The guy is contrary that it’s difficult for me to predict what he wants to do. He is confusing and intriguing.

Fuck feelings honestly.

“Nope. In fact, she doesn’t think that there are any.”

Kazai whirls around to stare at me, her expression open for once. “Aren’t any?” she repeats in shock. “Even with all the stuff happening here?” I nod simply. Maybe I can sympathize with her? Although that might be a bit hard to do – she knows that I don’t like her, and that I have very little patience for buying into her ‘poor me’ façade.

“It was hard for me to believe too. But she swears she doesn’t see them here.” I shrug, honestly I didn’t care either way. Strange occurrences didn’t have to be spiritual in origin. Maybe it was someone slipping acid into people’s food combined with a series of unfortunate events? I’m just here for a job.

“So what about you? Are you able to see them?”

Now that was risky. If I answered that I could, that would be a lie. I had some weird feelings every now and then, but that was due to my mixed heritage and of no serious consequence. The dream scape was what was much more worrying. And if I told her part of the truth, then she would have information to use against me. Keeping secrets had become a habit over the years. “No. I’m not a spiritualist. I’ve never been able to do that.” I say easily. It wasn’t really a lie – I didn’t believe that I was a medium in the way that Masako was. Any psychic abilities I might manifest are all due to my demonic genes. Nothing more, and nothing less.

I wouldn’t consider myself to have any possibility of being a spiritualist. The only time that I’d ever really seen spirits was when they presented themselves and _everybody_ could see them. Any other glimpses can be put down as side effects of my enhanced vision.

Kazai wasn’t willing to give up yet. She still hadn’t gotten what she wanted yet. “What about Mr. Shibuya? He’s a spiritualist, right?” And there it is. But that still provides the problem of the single fact that I have no idea what Naru wants Kazai to think. She knows that he has some pretty strong PK (he did break a spoon instead of just bending it), but I can’t just leave it at that. She wants something, and she’s bothering to try and go through me to get it. If I don’t give her anything… I need to know what she’s going to do with this information.

“Oh N-, I mean Mr. Shibuya isn’t really a spiritualist per say. He’s more of a ghost hunter. And there’s a theory going around that he might be an onmyoji as well.” I lie easily. I don’t know for sure that he’s not an onmyoji, but it just doesn’t feel right. Besides, Naru can defend himself just fine. I didn’t confirm that he was one, just through the idea out there to see if she takes the bait.

Kazai’s eyes widen before she suddenly casts them to the floor. “Is he really?”

Bingo.

“That would mean that he does practice onmyodo.” She mumbled, clearly not intending for me to hear her. Just then, Naru and Lin come walking down the hallways. If only they could’ve done this about 10 seconds ago, I wouldn’t have to resort to looking into this myself. How I hated doing unnecessary leg work.

“Naru!” I call, getting a nod in return. Kazai took one look at the duo dressed in black before turning and running down the hallway like the flames of hell were chasing her. “Bye then.” I huff, annoyed with her actions. She just can’t be normal, can she.

(Like I was one to talk though.)

Naru just watched her go with an odd look in his eye. “Come Karma, the others will be returning shortly. We will talk over tea.”

* * *

“I thought that there was something fishy about that girl.” Ayako declared as she sipped the warm tea from her teacup. As Naru had commanded, I made tea for everyone, and I was just finishing brewing a pot of Earl Grey tea for the narcissist and myself. I’d been staying away from green teas as of late – finding that black teas had a stronger and sweeter taste (I’m half demon; we like sweet things), and I quickly discovered that Naru held the same preferences. Ayako and the others preferred the milder teas, especially after performing an exorcism. Something about it calming the spirit or whatever. “You’re saying she came in here to check us all out, right?”

I passed Naru his cup before turning to Ayako. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that she knew that she was checking us out. Maybe she was just curious, or maybe she just got lucky.” I say, sipping from my mug. I wasn’t usually a tea drinker, but if the amount of times Naru demanded that I make tea a day meant anything, then my boss was addicted to tea. I’d need to become accustomed at some point, and the caffeine in tea isn’t all that bad.

“Well Kazai is aware that the students believe that her curse is the cause of all this.” Monk points out from his spot leaning against the table. “Maybe she thinks that we believe it too. That we’re her latest enemy you know?”

I kept silent. It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility at this point.

“Still, she does have powers.” John puts in. “According to a number of her schoolmates she was able to bend spoons with her mind. Do you think that it’s possible that she also possesses PK-LT?”

I frown. “What’s PK-LT.”

“I’ll explain it for Karma’s sake.” Naru’s voice cuts into the conversation, drawing everyone’s attention to him as he entered lecture mode. “PK-LT is the power to manipulate living creatures using only a force of will. The two major divisions of supernatural abilities are PK and ESP; or extra sensory perception. This is a special ability to know things that normal people wouldn’t sense. Telepathy and clairvoyance are in this category.” Oh, so like a demon’s instincts. Did that mean that all demons possess some form of what humans call ESP? Or is it simply heightened physical senses?

“PK however, is a force of will; moving objects by literally thinking them into action. The three categories are PK-MT, PK-ST, and last but not least, PK-LT.” He was in full lecture mode now, and I resist the urge to groan. I think this might be on the syllabus for my class, but I’m unsure. We haven’t covered it yet at the very least. All the same, this was kind of boring and annoying. “PK-ST is the power to affect static targets – spoon bending would fall here. PK-MT is the power to affect moving targets. And PK-LT, as I said, is the power to affect living targets.”

Alright, I’ll play along. I’ll bite. “So, what makes you think that Kazai is capable of doing such a thing?”

“If you can’t see the connection after everything I’ve said, I can’t help you.”

Well fuck you too. “I’m just saying, that PK-LT seems like it would involve quite a lot of power, perhaps the most out of all of the three. Kazai couldn’t even bend a spoon by the time we went to interview her, she had to resort to tricks to make us believe her. I wouldn’t bet my life on her not being the culprit, but from the evidence presented, most if not all of it is circumstantial. I doubt she actually has the power to curse anyone.”

Naru raised an eyebrow at me. “A unique observation, Karma. Although, I’m curious as to where the logic you drew your conclusion from, comes from. For someone who didn’t know what PK-LT was just moments ago, you’re making many interesting points.”

The others stared at the two of us for a moment before John stepped forwards. “Are we in agreement that Kazai really did invoke a curse on this school?”

I turned to look at him. “A curse?” he really believed that it was her? I doubt that girl could even physically harm someone, let alone have the malevolent willpower to enact a curse on a school of this size.

“She admitted it. She said, ‘I’ll curse you to death’.” Ayako pointed out.

Monk shook his head. “But it’s not really a curse. It’s more like using psychic powers to make people suffer. That’s the PK-LT part. But judging from what I’ve heard from a number of students, I don’t think the girl has that much power, like Karma said.” He paused before turning to look at all of us. “Do you guys know about the famous British psychic, Oliver Davis? They say he can slam a 110 lbs aluminum block into the wall, but he hasn’t been able to perform PK-LT.” Monk walked around the table to go and get some more tea, but his form was not what I was currently paying attention to. It was Naru. Naru had been holding the steaming tea cup under his nose so that it covered his mouth throughout the entire explanation of this ‘Oliver Davis.’

Instead he was staring over the rim of the cup at us. His eyes were guarded and cold, and I immediately knew that something was off. Something here wasn’t right, and I mentally made a note to do some research about Oliver Davis when I had the chance.

“This girl can’t even seem to bend spoons very well.” Ayako agreed, glancing at me out of the corner of her eyes. Naru still said nothing. “I remember when I was little that there was a kind of supernatural craze where a bunch of kids claimed that they could bend spoons and perform magic. Of course, it turned out that most of them were lying.”

“Wow that means you must be pretty old.”

Ayako did not waste any time in punching Monk in the head. Kudos to him for not spilling his tea – I’d hate to have to clean that mess up.

Naru gently placed his teacup down on the table in front of him. “Be that as it may, it’s very important to remember that in Kazai’s case she truly believed in her psychic powers. She felt like she was unfairly attacked and ridiculed by her teachers in front of the entire school… and then… well strange things began happening after she said her little ‘curse.’ Those are the facts, and we can’t ignore them.”

Nobody dared speak after that declaration, each of us forming our own solid opinions on what was happening here. I still stand by the idea that it isn’t Kazai that’s placed this ‘curse’ on the school. It was too far fetched, she was too unrefined. Uncontrolled powers can be volatile, but not like this.

“Something awful has happened!” at teenage girl yelled as she ran into the room out of breath. “Mr. Yoshino has been in a terrible car accident and is now in the hospital!” Naru immediately stood up and grabbed his coat before storming out of the room. Like well trained little ducklings, the rest of us followed him out and to the van.

* * *

Luckily for us, it didn’t require all that much effort to get into the hospital and a nurse readily escorted us to Mr. Yoshino’s room. The man in the hospital bed looked nothing short of traumatized. He had bandages wrapped around his head and the blankets tugged up just centimeters past his chin. His hands clutched at the edges of the sheet as he stared wide eyed at the ceiling.

“I… I was driving, and there it was! Right in front of me.” Mr. Yoshino stuttered. “A hand just descended, and I panicked, careening into traffic.” He didn’t bother with looking at us. The clearly traumatized look on his face frozen as he was seemingly unable to look away from the ceiling tiles. “It’s because of her. That girl! It’s the cause of it! When I was leaving the school, I ran into her and she gave me the most evil look I’ve ever seen. Oh my god she cursed me. She cursed me to die and now It’s really happening!”

The man seemed to unable to handle this reality as he proceeded to hide himself under the blanket as Naru and I stared down at him dispassionately. That man had most likely been falling apart for months, and now that an apparition had caused him to crash his car, he lost it. Bou-san had an odd look in his eyes as he stared down at the man. Perhaps he noticed something that two emotionally stunted people like myself and Naru missed in our logical outlook.

* * *

“What do you think, Naru? Was it Kazai?” Monk asked as we walked out of the hospital.

Naru didn’t look all that troubled, but I was standing behind him and he was very adept at hiding or disguising his body language. “I’m really not sure. We can safely say that things are getting worse. Let’s hurry back, we’ve got a lot to do and no time to waste.” The two men in front of me continued to walk forwards but I suddenly stopped.

I froze in my spot as a shiver ran up my tail that I held concealed under my shirt. The fur tickled my chest as it stood on end. Every single one of my senses were going haywire in that moment, and it was so overwhelming that I physically couldn’t move. It was… awful.

As if he had a 6th sense, Naru turned around sharply only a split second after I’d stopped. “What’s wrong?” Monk asked as he too, turned to look back at me.

“I…” I chocked out, “I don’t know. I just felt scared all of a sudden.” I haven’t felt this kind of fear in a _long_ time. And I’ve never felt like this so suddenly and so out of the blue. I looked up, meeting Naru’s gaze. He was watching me with a hard look in his eyes as his mouth curved downwards into a scowl.

* * *

“Come on Kazai! Why don’t you just stop?”

“Yeah! Stop using your freaky powers.”

“What are you trying to do? Scare everyone to death?”

A group of girls had surrounded Kazai and had her backed into a wall. It looked like they were accusing her of being responsible for Mr. Yoshino’s accident. Kazai is quick to deny their accusations, but her tone is far from as strong as before. “No, you’re wrong.”

“You know if poor Mr. Yoshino had died, you would totally be guilty of murder.”

Another girl leaned in and began to whisper in a panic. “Hey maybe we should lay off. If we say too much she could freak out and decide to curse us next.” The other girls immediately looked like they were ready to bolt. I was against interfering at this point, but Kazai wasn’t looking all that good. And if I were to interfere… the possible ramifications could be more harmful than good.

“What are you girls doing?” Obusuna-sensei walked towards the group of girls, seemingly not seeing me. She had a look of concern plastered on her face as she calmly said, “Kazai?” All it took was a prompting of her name and then Kazai was running towards the biology teacher without hesitation. She began crying softly in the teachers arms and that’s when Naru and Monk followed me around the corner. Naru shot me a look out of the corner of his eye but didn’t say anything.

“There they go again.”

“It’s kind of sick.”

“I don’t understand how Obusuna-sensei can stand up for her like that.”

The girls murmured to each other before turning and walking down the hall after glancing at us briefly. They had seemingly gotten over their fear of Kazai in that instant as they were back to mocking the two. For her part, Ms. Obusuna was focused on comforting the crying girl in her arms. “Don’t pay any attention to them, it’s not your fault.” She said softly, petting Kazai’s hair and ignoring our existence. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

Very carefully, we turned and walked down the hallway, leaving the two girls to have their moment in privacy. We had work to do.

* * *

After returning to the base and explaining what we found out from Mr. Yoshino to the others, Naru immediately sent everyone off to do more exorcisms. He left shortly thereafter with Lin, leaving me behind to watch the base yet again. I get that I can’t really perform exorcisms along with the others (at least right now) but I still hated feeling so useless.

They exorcised the track locker room and that desk, so they’ve hit every place directly related to the incidents. I mean, the entire school seems to be involved in some way, but the base was probably exempt from it. There was no way that we’d set all of this shit up only to not put any sort of protection precautions up. Of course, it was at that exact moment that Naru came walking in with a stormy look on his face. He immediately sat down and began shuffling through some papers.

He was clearly agitated. “How about I make some tea?” I offered softly, already going towards the equipment in the corner of the room.

“Fine.”

I carefully steeped the loose-leaf tea (Naru had rather refined tastes and disliked how the tea in teabags tasted. He’d never admit it aloud, but there was a specific way he liked his tea prepared, and it just so happened to be how I knew how to prepare it. Who knew that my host club experience might actually come in handy in anything other than a seduction mission? “Hey Naru? I have a question about Kazai.”

“I don’t know yet.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay, there’s just been something bothering me…” I break off, suddenly glancing at the ceiling. It was so soft that Naru probably hadn’t heard it yet, but there was a weird creaking coming from a singular tile. “What’s that? Did you see it?” I move away from the counter, gently pushing the hot water back towards the wall and as far away from me and Naru as possible. That’s when the lights flickered and then went out. Fucking perfect then. I stare at it. “I hope it’s not a power outage.” I find myself whispering as I stare at the filament in the light.

Naru stands up, his chair scrapping across the ground in his haste. “Quiet.” He hissed, standing so that he could angle his body ever so slightly in front of me. How quaint.

My gaze flickered over to the ceiling tile that was making increasingly worrying creaking noises. Naru wasn’t looking there yet, although he had noticed that my gaze was drawn there. He must not have heard it then. His eyes slowly slid to look where I was staring at, and then as if it had been waiting for Naru’s attention, an apparition appeared.

It came down head first, long tangled tresses sliding through the floor and glowing a pale purple. It was covered in a hazy mist, so making out distinctive features yet. “Now don’t make any sudden movements and stay calm.” Naru ordered softly, not once looking away from the _thing_ that was appearing from the ceiling. From the centre of the haze, a face began to form. Its eyes were a beady red, and they seemed to glare at Naru for a second before the apparition continued to descend into the room.

I inched forward slowly in an attempt to get in front of Naru – seeing as I know that I can take more damage than he can – but his arm across my chest quickly halts all sign of movement. I dare not look away from the apparition’s eyes, not even for a second.

Luckily for us, that’s when Monk barged into the room chanting aggressively. The spirit didn’t even get a chance to turn around before the mist it was made of dispersed and faded away. A couple seconds into its absence, and the lights flickered on once more. Naru’s arm was still across my chest, holding me from advancing. But he did end up dropping it before Monk turned back to look at us.

“Ah, so the spirits have started showing their faces in here too.” Monk mused, staring at the ceiling. Naru just turned around and walked away from us, heading deeper into the base.

“Apparently.”

But Monk’s attention was no longer on Naru. Instead, his gaze had shifted to me. For my part, I was leaning back against the table, my senses still going haywire after the presence of a threat like that. “Hey, are you okay, Karma?” Monk asked, but I didn’t really hear it. I was too busy playing back the past few moments over and over in my head as I tried to figure out what has happened. That… woman hadn’t looked at me once. She only looked at Naru. “Hey Karma, snap out of it.”

Damn. I guess I just got caught up in my head. “That spirit was looking for Naru.” I declare decisively, my features settling into a serious expression.

“Naru?” Monk said in confusion, but I was on a roll. I _knew_ that I was right.

“That woman just now, it wasn’t a coincidence. I know that she came for him.” And I was infuriated that I was just so _useless_. “I had a dream last night, and there were foxfires all over the school. That thing we just saw was one of them.” I straightened up a bit, turning to look at Naru, who was by his laptop. “I can’t explain how I know that, but I’m positive I’m right. My instincts have never been wrong before. That woman’s eyes? They were bloodthirsty – believe me, I know that hunger when I see it. She was looking straight at you.”

I made eye contact with Naru. “Mark my words, whoever is doing this, is after you. Don’t be stupid.” He met my gaze evenly, a curious look in his eyes. He seemed to be puzzling over my strong conviction, but he didn’t say anything and simply continued typing on his laptop. I ignored the worried glance that Monk threw at me in favour of following Naru’s example and beginning to jot down some notes in my own notebook. This was a significant turn in the case, I just knew it.

* * *

[Thursday]

I set the tea down in front of Naru, looking up at him with some concern. “What’s the matter? Your eyes are all red.”

“Our friend came back to visit me.” He said evenly.

I frowned in confusion. “Wait a second, do you mean–”

“It turns out your instinct was right. She appeared at my window last evening.” Naru told me conversationally, focusing his full attention on me – which was unsettling. I knew that something would happen dammit. Of course, Lin came in the room just in time to hear the tail end of his little explanation. “I thought something worse might happen if I tried to look away, so we spent the entire night staring at each other.”

I huffed and turned back to go brew another pot of tea for later. “Remind me to make you something with a stronger caffeine content.” I muse quietly, not all that bothered by Naru’s little staring contest. It was a typical Naru thing to do, and it wasn’t like he’d tried to foolishly attack it. I figure remaining inactive is good enough. He was here and unhurt, even if a little tire. He seemed like the type of guy that was comfortable functioning without a full night of sleep.

Lin apparently didn’t share in my nonchalance at his situation. “Why the hell didn’t you call me?!” Lin demanded. Naru’s response didn’t help with Lin’s irritation.

“Because I wanted to see what would happen.” Boy oh boy did he sounded his age. His voice practically _oozed_ sarcasm. “And I thought it would be rude to wake you up for nothing.

Lin was having none of Naru’s bullshit. “And what would you have done if something _had_ happened?” he demanded. Jeez. Very intense – I’m pretty sure that Naru can handle himself? That power at the very least would work to protect him.

“Well obviously if it had I would’ve called.” He looked down at his papers, clearly indicating that this part of the conversation was over. “We just had a little staring contest. So, stop worrying.” Lin looked like he wanted to argue further, but the tall man conceded and moved to begin looking over the data that was collected overnight.

I turned back to look over at Naru. “Then there’s no way it could be Kazai. I mean for her to cast such a big curse, she’d have to have a lot of that PK-LT, right? She barely radiates any power, I wouldn’t have noticed her in a crowd or even in a small classroom.” I point out, imploring Naru to listen. It wasn’t Kazai. I knew that much so far.

“You are right. If she wanted to be able to affect so many people with this curse, she would need to have quite a lot of that power.” Naru agreed with me, calmly drinking his tea and shuffling papers.

I turned around and began to walk back towards the tea are to put away the equipment so that there wasn’t a mess. “When we met her the first time she wasn’t even able to bend that spoon.” I recalled, thinking back to how Kazai had been acting this entire time. Something just wasn’t adding up and it was really beginning to bother me. I knew that it wasn’t Kazai, but if it wasn’t her, and Masako said it wasn’t spirits despite the presence of the apparitions, then who was it?

“That’s right.” Naru agreed once more – wow twice in less than 10 minutes?? Incredible! “And spirits appeared to all the victims in every single incident. The Kazai theory definitely doesn’t account for these apparitions.” He looked up as the door opened to reveal Bou-san, Ayako, Masako, and John.

“Well maybe she’s just off making effigy dolls or something.” Ayako suggested, her voice surprisingly subdued.

“You mean she makes dolls night after night to go around cursing everyone?” Monk mocked slightly. “I guess that’s not an impossible theory.”

“Whenever you use straw effigy dolls, isn’t it only supposed to hurt the person where the nail is driven in?” We’d actually been talking about effigy dolls in class a week or two ago, and the knowledge that Naru and Co. have given me has helped _a lot_ with all of my papers. Having real in the field experience is pretty valuable, and the teachers are totally fine with allowing me out of class. I hand in good work so they’re fine with it. Still I know that the teachers aren’t as good as Naru or the others. They didn’t know nearly as much, and sometimes when I turned in a report about our cases (they said it was going towards participation marks considering I missed so much class – I figured that that was fair) they came to me to ask more about the things that they hadn’t heard about.

Masako looked at me out of the corner of her eye with a sly gaze. “She’s right. And dolls don’t summon spirits.

“’Course not. Moreover, they do not possess the power to have repeated harm to them…” he looked up sharply as if realizing something halfway through his sentence. “Lin!”

“Yes.” Lin nodded. “It’s possible that’s the answer.”

Monk raised an eyebrow. “Come on, fill us in.” It was to be expected at this point. The entire group of irregulars had finally begun getting used to the fact that Naru and Lin often ran on a different wave length than the rest of us.

Naru looked stricken. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner.” He stood up dramatically. “We’re dealing with a zuzou.”

I raise an eyebrow. What? That’s another new term. “A zuzou?” Naru didn’t even seem to hear me.

“There’s an extremely powerful hex at work in this school that’s calling down curses on people.” He was looking down at the table and speaking almost robotically. Like his mind was a thousand years away…

He was quickly met with skepticism. Particularly from Monk as he blatantly askes, “are you serious?” Monk had gotten better with trusting that Naru knew his shit, but sometimes he was still quick to doubt the teen’s conclusions. Of course, since I was a novice with the paranormal (and how that fact irked me) my word meant jack shit at this point in time.

(Maybe if I got to know them better and bothered to stay here long enough… they might find out. Then again, them finding out is kind of inevitable anyways. If we ever encounter a demon, I’m going to have to step in. As much as these people can be incredibly annoying, I didn’t want them to die. Heck, I even protected those cram class shits when they still hated my existence. Protecting people who actually seem to genuinely care about my existence – well maybe not Masako – was a no brainer.)

Ayako on the other hand, was surprisingly into this train of thought. “Okay but what’s the connection between the zuzou and these spirits?”

“This hex was originally derived from the yin yang dao. It is cast by driving a nail into a hitogata or straw effigy doll. I’ll explain this so Karma can catch up.” Naru, ever ready with an explanation and an insult for me whenever someone _else_ bothered to ask questions. My impressed eyebrow lowered into a semi-scowl at his words. It’s not my fault that I didn’t know this shit already. I have other stuff to do with my life than research the paranormal.

“In the yin yang dao, there’s a certain method of cursing people referred to as enmei. It’s a hex that uses either a hitogata or a possession of the one being cursed. The driving a nail into a straw effigy doll is one of the enmei arts. The doll’s function is to simply convey the level of hatred of the person driving a nail.” He turns to stare at me as he explains further, a blank look in his eyes. “The dolls themselves can do no real harm. But when the hexer – the one performing the curse – drives the nail into the hitogata, it calls upon gods or spirits to deliver a death curse. The gods or spirits accept the task and carry the curse to the unlucky subject. In other words, the hexer actually contracts these gods, spirits, and even demons by performing the enmei arts.”

Well wasn’t that just… special. It sure did sound like our current situation though, so I suppose that we couldn’t consider it incorrect yet.

“So, you’re saying that the cursed desk, the hand that attacked Mr. Yoshino, and the woman that came down from the ceiling, are all evil spirits with curses?” I ask, putting a hand on my chin as I seek confirmation.

He nodded. “Someone has cast multiple enmei spells against the people in this school, and evil spirits are appearing to those who have been cursed. The spirits aren’t powerful enough to kill their targets immediately, so they torment and lead them to their deaths. It’s a very indirect form of murder.”

(You know what would _really_ be interesting to look into? Law school. Maybe I’ll make it a trip to America at some point. I always found their ineffective justice system fascinating.)

“And if these attacks were to happen frequently, as they have with Yuasa, it would definitely have a negative effect on those who are easily influenced.” John points out, the serious look on his face looking out of place due to his boyish looks.

“Yes. An example of that would be the girl who believed that she was possessed by a fox. This explains both the incidents themselves and why the entire school was thrown into such a panic.” Ah yes, because there’s almost no one weaker minded than the high school population.

That’s when Monk asked the real question that we were all thinking. “So, who performed the curses?” We all glanced around at each other as Naru stared at us expectantly as if imploring us to figure out the answer. He was kind of like a teacher, what with the way that he kept trying to force us to figure out the conclusions he’d drawn about the situation. He already knew the answer, he was just waiting for us to catch up. Or at least, that’s how it feels sometimes.

“All the evidence would seem to suggest that the hexer is Kazai.” Masako said slowly, looking up bashfully at Naru and batting her eyelashes. Ugh. Whoop there goes the jealous crush feelings again.

But I knew it wasn’t Kazai. “Wait hold on–” But the others were on board with Masako’s idea.

Ayako looked up at the medium. “It has to be Kazai,” she agreed.

I whirled around to stare at her. “You think so too?” How could these people not _get it?_ I was semi-used to high schoolers being complete morons, but these so-called professionals? Kazai was just lashing out verbally, she didn’t have the character strength to do something like this. It’s seemingly ridiculous! Why couldn’t these _adults_ just look a bit deeper instead of trying to blame everything on emotional teenagers?

“Yeah, look, her abilities were rejected and in turn she was made fun of and attacked in front of the whole school, right? Even her teacher friend has been put through hell because of it.” Ayako pointed out logically, but I was not ready to let this go.

I shook my head. “Listen, students can be mean, I get that. I was part of the E Class when I attended Kunugikaoka and we really got the short end of the stick there! I know what it’s like, and you don’t curse people to death for this kind of thing.” I argue. It was just wrong, something so small as _this…_ really? Kazai struck me as someone who could roll with the punches… as long as they were spar level.

“They pushed Kazai to the edge, so she called down a death curse on them.” Ayako said again, this time more forcefully as if to quell my protests. “She’s just making good on her threat.”

“That’s not true!” I continued to argue. “Kazai might be just some stupid teenage girl with psychic powers, but her powers are too weak for this. She also doesn’t have the temperament for someone who seeks to curse someone to death. If this zuzou is making deals with demons, it requires more guts than Kazai has. The girl can’t hold up under pressure, if she did this, she would have caved. She’s too frazzled to be thinking like a killer.” It’s not her dammit. My instincts are going fucking haywire over all of this shit and I really just don’t want to have to deal with that – I’m too used to people just trusting that I know better. To the people at SPR, I’m just some newbie who got lucky and sticks out like a sore thumb, seeing as I’m the youngest.

“Then explain why Mr. Yoshino, who personally challenged and laughed at her in front of the entire school is now in the hospital.” Naru said suddenly, challenging me with his gaze. “What reason do you have to believe that she’s not to blame?”

“I know that the evidence is only circumstantial, but you forget that I know how to read people. If anyone is behind this, it’s probably a damn teacher!” I nearly yell, my frustration getting the better of me. “They don’t really look out for students, and I don’t buy Obusuna’s calm for one moment. She’s just… too nice for no reason. There’s something that we’re missing, and it has to do with a teacher. Maybe someone is trying to frame Kazai because they hate her so much, I don’t know! It’s not her.”

Naru stared at me coolly. “You’re projecting.”

Oh no he didn’t. I glare sharply at him, warning him that he’s taking this a step too far. “She’s not the one.” I grind out with conviction. “I know it, and my instincts have never been wrong before. _Especially_ when a life depends on it.” There must have been something in my eyes, because Naru actually backs down.

“Alright, I believe you.”

I quirk an eyebrow, closing off my body language and staring at him skeptically. “Really?”

Masako was just as skeptical. “That’s great, but someone could still die if we don’t hurry.” Mood dampener, I’m never inviting _her_ to a party. (Even if that’s not the only reason why…)

“We have to act, we can’t leave the zuzou out there.” Naru acknowledged. “I’d like you all to search for the hitogata. Lin and I will go looking for the culprit.”

Monk looks confused, looking away from… me? Why had been looking at me? “Uh we’re looking for dolls?” he asks in confusion.

“There’s two ways to break an enmei spell. Turn the curse back on the hexer or burn the hitogata being used.” Naru flipped through his notebook and avoiding our gazes. I was still personally puzzled as to the sudden turn around with believing me. “The doll is usually buried near the target. That means if the hexer is a student or a school faculty member, it’s most likely around here somewhere.”

“Somewhere?! Oh great, that helps a lot.” Monk said sarcastically, letting his own temper getting the best of him. “What do you want us to do? Dig up the whole school?”

Naru very nearly rolled his eyes at the older man. “Well the hexer must have buried _my_ hitogata sometime after Monday when we started investigating here. So that one should still be fresh and easier to spot.” I wasn’t the only one who shivered slightly at the reminder of the fact that our boss currently had a spirit dedicated to driving him to his death still on the loose.

“Yeah but come one! This school is huge.” Monk whined, much to Naru’s annoyance.

“Perhaps you’d like to leave?” Really Naru? You’re pulling this shit _again??_ Every time someone complained he was quick to offer the out. It made me wonder if he really wanted us gone, or if he knew that challenging us like this would only motivate us further to stay.

“Alright.” He sighed. And then everyone filed out of the room to go and look for the hitogata.

I ended up tagging along with Lin and Naru and we went to the classroom with the desk. Had I been anyone else, I might have commented on how classes should technically still be running, but honestly, I was kind of fucking done with this school and it had only been a couple days. Upon entering the classroom, it was evident that they weren’t using this classroom today. Without anymore prompting or any hesitation at all really, Naru and Lin flipped over the ‘cursed’ desk and began rifling through it.

I slowly made my way over and sort of just watched them as they fiddled with the desk. Suddenly Naru pulled something out of the desk. “Here it is.” He declared, holding up the hitogata covered in tape.

“They did a good job on it, but it doesn’t seem to be made for anyone specifically.” Lin remarked, taking the hitogata from Naru and looking it over with a critical eye. “It’s only intention was to curse whoever sat at this desk.”

“I think you’re right. The hitogata caused whoever sat here to have an accident, meaning they weren’t specifically targeted so much as just unlucky.” He turned to me. “I bet we’ll find another one in the track team’s locker room aimed at the entire club, rather than just a single person.”

“The floor is concrete, they’re usually buried right?” Naru asked Lin as we looked around the locker room for any place that the hitogata could be hidden.

Lin looked up. “Usually yes, but it’s quite possible they’ve been hidden in the ceiling.” All these questions that Naru was asking was only further confirming that Lin was the onmyoji out of the two – well that and at one point, Lin must have been his teacher or authority figure at the very least. It was obvious in all the little ways that they acted towards each other, now that I think of it. Despite how callous Naru could be, Lin cared about him an awful lot. And it was Lin that Naru didn’t want me to tell the fact that he used his powers to.

I move towards the corner of the room almost subconsciously and kneel on the ground, checking every little spot for some sign that the hitogata was hidden. That’s when I saw that there was a cracked tile in the very corner, and after subtly pulling a pocket knife from my pants leg, I pried it up. After quickly hiding the knife again, I fully lift up the tile to reveal a dirtied wooden doll. “I found it!” I call to them. I grab it and hold it up for Naru to grab and examine.

He looks it over for a second before nodding at me. “Good work, Karma.”

“No problem.”

Naru didn’t acknowledge that. He simply looked up and turned to Lin, his face deathly serious. “This one is enmei as well. The cursed desk and the track team, if we dig a little deeper, we’re sure to find the culprit soon.” I opened my mouth to say something, but then I heard a blood curdling scream come from deeper into the school. My head snapped sharply over to look past Naru in the direction of the scream.

I knew that I only heard the scream because of my enhanced hearing, but for some reason I still expected more of a reaction from the two stoic men. The two were looking at me oddly due to my apparent out of the blue reaction. Naru quirked an eyebrow. “Something’s happened. Someone’s hurt.” I mutter, looking past him as if willing myself to see through the walls. I recognized that voice – it was Masako.

Footsteps came crashing towards us and only seconds after a heavily distressed Ayako slammed her way into the track team locker room. “It’s Masako! She’s fallen down the stairs!”


	9. File 3 - Part 3

[Thursday]

“I heard she saw something.” The students were whispering as they watched us stand by the ambulance. Masako had fallen down the stairs, and as soon as Ayako had rushed in to tell us, we’d run over. When we got there, it turns out that Monk had already called an ambulance and he and John were standing near Masako’s prone form and talking with a teacher about what happened. The ambulance arrived within a couple minutes, and we were now watching them load up a still unconscious Masako. “It’s the same thing that Mr. Yoshino saw. It’s gotta be the curse.”

The students had all heard the screams and come rushing to find out what happened. They’d been promptly ushered back into their classrooms, but that didn’t stop the whispers and the rumours. Apparently, this school had thin walls, because I could hear every word they said as they looked down on us like we were some reality TV show characters. “You know it’s her, who else would do this!” They continue to hiss as somewhere in the school, Ms. Obusuna informed a surprisingly distraught Kazai about what had happened. Or I mean, if her reaction was anything to go by, then that was what happened. I couldn’t quite hear Ms. Obusuna. The only reason I heard Kazai was because she screamed.

I may not like Kazai, but her reaction here wasn’t faked either, and only helped prove that although she was a defensive asshole (I couldn’t really blame her for being defensive right now though… dammit), she wasn’t the one doing this.

“Call us soon, and let us know how she’s doing, okay?” Ayako calls softly, her voice breaking through my concentration and I focus on what’s in front of me again, ignoring the odd look that Naru had shot me. He noticed that I was unfocused on Masako.

John was climbing into the ambulance to ride with Masako. I wonder when that was decided… “Right. You guys try to be careful, okay?” John said, a small smile on his face. The door closed behind him and then the ambulance began to drive away. I watched it go with an odd feeling in the bottom of my stomach. This case was getting interesting, and while Naru may be intrigued by my strange conviction in the ‘not Kazai’ theory, how long will that last? And what if… it is Kazai and she’s just a better actor than I thought?

No. She is a teenage girl. There’s no way that she’s another Kayano. She’s too emotional for that and her ‘cover’ is too problematic. It could be a cover, but she would have slipped up by now. And the people around her would have known that something was up; they already knew that something was off about her, so they weren’t completely oblivious. Teens saw a lot more than anyone ever gives them credit for; after all, high school was a survival test where reading people is done subconsciously and constantly.

As soon as the ambulance’s sirens had gone past what I would assume to be a human’s hearing range, Naru and Lin turned to begin to make their way back to the base. I followed them without question, and after a moment of hesitation from Ayako and Monk, they too, followed us back to the base. The halls were clear, but in every window in each classroom, there was students pressed against the glass and watching us as we passed. It didn’t do anything to discourage the feeling of being an experiment. Like we were zoo animals or attractions or something.

I had done my time as part of a museum attraction (both literally and with my art), and I didn’t like how it felt.

I didn’t glare at them though. I had some self control. But if Monk’s light nudge told me anything, it was that I wasn’t doing a good enough job at hiding my disdain for the students at Yuasa. They were too curious and stuck their noses in everything. At Kunugikaoka, it was war; at True Cross, everyone knew to not ask questions; and at Ouran, everyone was too self absorbed to ask questions. Yuasa seemed like your typical high school, thriving off gossip with the one common enemy in the school. It was fucking ridiculous.

It’s simple, don’t stick your nose into things that don’t concern you.

I know that sounds hypocritical, but I never said that I wasn’t. The difference is that I’m able to handle what I might come across. This ‘curse’ was bigger than these normal high school students. They were playing with fire by continuously taunting Kazai, and they didn’t stop even though they were getting burned. Even if it wasn’t Kazai, clearly this had something to do with her.

Still, despite the stares, we didn’t have any trouble making it back to the base. We walked in silence, avoiding any teachers that were patrolling the hallways by simply not answering when they spoke to us. Even Monk and Ayako remained silence until we made it back to base and closed the door.

Almost as soon as we were through the door to the base, Ayako immediately turned to face all of us and began yelling. “Shouldn’t we just go and get this Kazai girl locked down? Our lives are in danger here!” she slammed her hands onto the table as Naru calmly typed away on his laptop. Lin had gone to watch the monitors and was completely separated from the ensuing argument.

“You can’t. This isn’t her fault, and besides, what kind of police officer is going to believe you?” I counter with an air of frustration. They just didn’t get it! Ayako was always quick to jump to blame someone, never waiting or _observing_. It was an irritation beyond belief that she was just so deliberately _obtuse._ “I know that you want someone to blame, but she just can’t have done it.”

“You still believe that crap?” Ayako is furious as she turns around to glare at me. That’s new. “Tell us who is doing it, otherwise butt out!” Oh no she did _not_ just go there.

“I’ve already told you who I suspect. And forgive me if I’m not an expert on the paranormal – however I am someone with experiences and a psyche major. I like to think that I know people; I’ve made it this far. But yeah, I’ve already told you who I think did it and you refuse to even consider it as an option, holding on to your theory so tightly you become blind to any other possibility.”

“It’s not like you’re any better. You refuse to see that it’s Kazai.”

“Because it’s not Kazai. There’s too much evidence in the contrary. She’s a teenager girl with weak power and a weak drive.”

Naru watched us argue with a critical eye before commenting ominously. “Whoever it is, they’re warning us.” I look up at him, narrowing my eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“We must be getting close to something.” He said seriously, ceasing his typing and staring at the table. Even though his gaze was not on us, it was obvious that he as giving us as close to his full attention as he could in this moment. “The hexer attack Hara-san and I to warn us from digging any deeper.

Ayako seemed indignant. “That’s a hell of a warning!” Well I mean, it wasn’t the worst kind of ‘back off’ warning. It’s not like Masako is dead – in fact I doubt she has anything worse than a concussion. I got worse from the Doll House. “Masako was pushed down the stairs, Naru. This is serious.”

“Yeah.” Monk agreed, sitting up in his seat. “Not to toot my own horn or anything, but who knows what would have happened to you if I hadn’t scared away that spirit earlier.” He did have a point. The spirit could have attacked faster than I could react and using Satan’s flames in a school seemed inadvisable. I don’t even know if they would work on spirits. It might even be counter productive.

“As long as we get the message, the hexer doesn’t really care if one of us is hurt or killed. That tells us a bit more about the kind of person we’re dealing with, and makes us resolving this case quickly, all the more imperative.” Another point towards the ‘not Kazai’ theory. Kazai’s scream of anguish still rang in my ears, and I know that she doesn’t have it in her to kill someone. She would be haunted by nightmares. If the hexer really doesn’t care about us – like we’re collateral in their mission for revenge – then they need to be cool headed; calculating even. That was not the emotionally charged Kazai.

“The targets were Mr. Yoshino, the unfortunate ones who sat at that desk and had accidents one after another, and the entire track team. And let’s not forget the hitogata found in the desk and the locker room make it clear that the culprit was after someone connected to them.” Naru began, breaking down all of the known facts. “I think we’re all aware that working on this case poses a risk, and for that reason we should want to expose the hexer as soon as we possibly can. Lin, Karma and myself will investigate those connected to the desk and the track team. Monk, you and Ms. Matsuzaki will continue to search the school for hitogata.”

The two looked a bit stunned at being stonewalled by Naru like that, but they nodded and moved to follow his orders nonetheless.

“How come we always end up doing the grunt work?” Monk grumbled quietly to Ayako as the both of them left the room and went outside to search in the gardens below our window.

Naru turned to me as he and Lin began to arrange things on the table that we had all of our investigation shoved on. “Karma, call the principal and ask him to get Ms. Takahashi. We need to conduct another interview.” I nodded and did as asked. The principal was surprisingly prompt, and soon enough the interview was underway.

The girl quickly sat down, sitting straight in her seat and made eye contact with Naru. Not an easy feat for someone so ordinary. “So, you’re trying to figure out if the desk and the track team have a connection.” She said, confirming what she knew. She was sitting opposite to Naru and Lin (who was writing down the transcript so that we could look over the word choice and shit later), while I sat on the side of the table. There was another seat beside the girl, but I wasn’t about to take it. There was a power dynamic in this room, and I wasn’t about to sit myself down as an opposite. I was working with Naru, not the students. Besides, I doubt that my presence being symbolically on their side would bring all that much comfort. I’m in a rather prickly mood, what with how this case has been going.

“Who was the first person to sit in that seat?” Naru asked calmly.

She looked up as if trying to remember the information. “Uh, first term I honestly don’t remember. But I know that Murayama sat there second term.” She was oddly cheerful, for someone being in this situation. From what I understand, the entire school was in a state of fear right now. One of the ghost hunters called in to get rid of the curse had been pushed down the stairs and taken away in an ambulance. There was reason for the people at Yuasa High School to fear.

“When exactly would that have been?”

“Oh. Well let’s see, the first seat change was in the middle of September.” She said thoughtfully, beaming at Naru. “See at our school, we change our seat on the 15th day of every month. So, it must have been from July 15th to September 14th, with summer vacation in the middle.”

Naru continued calmly asking his question, not showing any reaction to the information the student was giving us. “When did Murayama have her accident?”

“A couple of days before the seating change.”

“Alright, that means that the culprit must have put the hitogata inside of that desk sometime between July 15th and September 11th or 12th.” Naru stood up, turning to look out the window.

The student seemed very confused. “Hitogata?” she said, sounding out the odd word with a look of bafflement on her face. Naru ignored her.

“The accidents started happening midway through September. So the student before Murayama probably weren’t connected.” Naru said, his voice slightly far away as if he was more thinking out loud than lecturing. “I think it’s a safe bet that Murayama must have done something to anger the hexer within that time.”

The student looked around awkwardly. “…Anger?”

“Oh yes, that’s obvious. They had to have had a grudge of some kind. Our culprit knew Murayama, or at least what she looked like. Which means that we can probably rule out teachers that she didn’t have, and students in the other grades.”

“Um, I don’t know. Sometimes substitutes or administrative people come in. Plus, there are club meetings and stuff that other kids come to.” The girl abruptly covered her mouth as her eyes widened in obvious shock.

“Hey, what is it?” I asked, softening my tone in an attempt to sound a bit more approachable.

The girl lowered her hand, “well, it happened during the Kazai Panic.” She began to explain, looking like she was about to tell us something really important. I pulled out my notebook and a pen quietly as she told the story to Naru’s back. “Some of us kept dragging Kazai into our classrooms to see the spoon bending thing. It really was pretty cool, you know? But one time, Murayama just completely stormed in and started yelling at us. She verbally attacked Kazai, calling everything just a cheap trick.” The small smile that had been on the girl’s face slipped off as she remembered the incident. “I guess Murayama was pretty upset because she even went to talk with Obusuna-sensei.”

“Obusuna-sensei, you say.”

“Uh yeah.” She looked confused and her gaze flickered between Lin and me. “She knows a ton about psychic powers and stuff. Didn’t you guys know that? I’ve even gone to ask her questions before. I think maybe that’s why she stuck up for Kazai, even after the whole school went crazy over psychic stuff and started taking sides.”

Well wasn’t that just curious indeed. Of fucking course Obusuna had something to do with all of this. I totally called it – that she was suspicious. She is very suspicious, and of course she just happened to _know_ a whole bunch about psychic abilities and phenomena. Because it obviously makes perfect sense for a biology teacher to know so much about psychic abilities.

Then again… I was a psyche and business major. And I’m pretty sure that Yukio is planning on going to med school, but he had a job where he teaches teenagers how to banish demons. Yeah… I guess profession can’t tell you everything about a person. 

“And this is the teacher Murayama complained to about Kazai?” Naru’s deep voice broke through my thoughts, once more abruptly bringing me back to the present. Now that he’s voiced it out loud, Murayama sounds kinda stupid. Obviously, the best thing to do is complain to the person most likely to be sympathetic to your opposition.

“Uh huh. Obusuna-sensei said if she stepped in it would just stir things up.” Typical. Of course, the one teacher that might be on the underdog’s side is completely useless. Seriously, since when have teachers done anything other than attack students? The ‘good’ ones are always controlled by their precious rules, and the ones against you always seem to have all the power. “But pretty soon, the other teachers and the PTA started freaking out about it.”

“So, Murayama was the first person to reject psychic powers – quite interesting.” Naru remarked quietly.

“Wow, you know I hadn’t even thought about it until just now, but I don’t think the track team had a lot of believers either.” At my questioning look, she continued. “Well Mr. Yoshino was the team’s advisor and he really didn’t believe so the team ended up doing, you know… whatever he said.” Well that was troubling.

I turned to look over at Naru only to see that he was already looking at me and watching my facial expressions. I crossed my arms and straightened my posture. “Thank you, Takahashi-san. That will be all.” Wow, he remembered her name? I forgot within literal minutes of asking the principal to send her down. Usually I’d remember, but honestly, she didn’t exactly make a lasting impression. It wasn’t like this Takahashi girl would be all that important. She seems decently uninvolved so far – merely choosing to be involved.

And after seeing her gaze at Naru, it wasn’t hard to see why. She smiled. “Please, call me Yuko. And it was my pleasure, if you ever have anymore questions, I’ll be happy to help.” And then she bowed before taking her leave quietly.

* * *

“Here it is. Looks like everyone who spoke against our friend Kazai, eventually experienced some kind of harm.” Naru said as he clicked through various rosters on his laptop. They all had English translations next to them, and I was honestly surprised that Naru was actually letting me see this rather obvious weakness. So far, I doubt any of the others even suspected that Naru was a foreigner. (They probably thought that I was more foreign if we were going to be honest.)

“Okay. So then…” I looked over at him, what was his point?

Naru wouldn’t look at me. “The probability of Kazai being the culprit just skyrocketed.” I looked over at him imploringly and he began to explain. “the zuzou doesn’t work for just any person who attempts it. Only those who have had special training or are very knowledgeable about supernatural powers can perform them.”

I tilted my head to the side. Wouldn’t that just prove that Kazai _wasn’t_ the culprit? Was I seeing different signs than he was? “But you said that her power was unstable. That would mean that it would be hard for someone like her to control a zuzou – let alone so many of different powers and aims – isn’t that right?” I say carefully, aiming more for confirming my knowledge than grasping at straws. “And Obusuna would be Kazai’s source of information… so… Kazai obviously doesn’t have training or that extensive knowledge on her abilities.”

Naru crossed his arms. “You’re right. That’s a good point.” He looked honestly puzzled. “Very true.”

“Didn’t you say that zuzou came from onmyodo?” he nodded, looking at me quizzically. “So, then an onmyoji could perform the spell then, right?” I’m suddenly reminded of the little lie I’d told Kazai, and her subsequent reaction to that knowledge. “In the hallway I told Kazai that _you_ were an onmyoji, and her reaction was very weird.”

“Why did you tell her _that_? I am no such thing.”

“I lied obviously.” I roll my eyes, crossing my arms and beginning to get defensive. “I wanted to see what she’d do with information like that – if she knew anything. I knew that you aren’t an onmyoji, and I couldn’t exactly claim that _I_ was the onmyoji since I’m so very obviously ‘still learning,’ but you have enough power that you should be able to protect yourself just fine.” I say before realizing what I’d just confessed and suddenly becoming _very_ aware of the fact that Lin was just over by the monitors. 

“How do you know that?” Naru demands harshly.

I go in with a quick cover up, hoping that my novice status would make this more believable. Besides, I have to start dropping some ability hints at some point in case I needed to use my sensory-ish abilities. I’m sure that Lin has figured out _something_ by now, if Naru hasn’t already told him what he knows. “Well it’s obvious! First of all, you never said you made the hitogata, and since you said onmyoji stuff was hard and required like a lot of study, I figured that it was Lin. You have him for a reason and the both of you disappeared together before returning with the hitogata… I figure you would have told Monk and the others if you were the onmyoji in the very beginning on our first case. Instead you called yourself a ghost hunter – but Lin wasn’t there during the introductions.”

“That’s a stretch Karma.” His voice had a hard edge to it, but his face was blank. I decided to keep on digging my grave because at this point there was hopefully only 1 direction to go.

I shifted, “Well Lin _feels_ more like the hitogata stuff. You have a weird force that surrounds you all the time. I figure it was some kind of power…” I trail off, frowning in mock confusion. I couldn’t reveal that Naru had bent a spoon, otherwise he’d be more inclined to not keep my secrets when they inevitably came out.

I was an assassin – I can keep a secret.

Me seeing his power is an excellent excuse. Nothing incriminating for Lin to get all uppity about. And dropping the hint that Lin feels more like the hitogata sounds ignorant (oh how I loath to sound ignorant) but it was believable if I was supposed to be the instinct driven one. I had really been harping on my senses with this case, and the _feel_ of a person being something that I used as evidence would be in character.

You know, because that’s what I actually _did._

He raised both of his eyebrows with incredulity. “You can see my power…” he said slowly, like he hadn’t already heard me confess this. He was a good actor.

“Can’t everybody? It’s really forceful and like… pulsing.” Welp that could have been said better.

“Well I guess it still looks pretty bad for Kazai. There is significant circumstantial evidence.” I said, moving back to the original topic once more. My own point about her reaction to Naru being a ‘onmyoji’ was just another piece against her. “That she’s the person behind all of this.”

“Well if she thought I was a threat and hexed me for fear that I’d dispel her zuzou, then yes, things look bad for her.” Naru told me, the hard look in his eye hadn’t left yet and he was staring at me like he could see right through me.

“What if she didn’t mean to do it?” I counter, “like she did it subconsciously or something and didn’t know. I do admit that she knew the word ‘onmyodo’ but where would she have heard it from? C’mon Naru! Something’s not right here.” We’re in each other’s faces now, and by the way Lin is pointedly typing in the other half of the room, he knew it too.

“She would know. Practicing enmei involves actively cursing the subject.”

“Do you really think that Kazai is someone capable of doing this? That weak-willed girl? She’s fallen apart and is lashing out, but she’s more hurt than angry. She’s involved, but she’s not. the. hexer.”

“Is this intuition talking again?”

I froze. I mean… it _was_ instinct. There’s this odd feeling at the back of my mind. My senses are going wild right now. “My instincts have never been wrong before.” I say again, although nothing louder than a whisper. I don’t know why I was suddenly so affected, but I was. Naru’s aura was fluttering wildly as he stared at me – I could feel his heavy gaze. I’ve been in a lot of weird situations where I would feel nervous or scared, but this situation affected me in a way that I was completely unused to.

“Alright. If that’s what your gut is telling you, I’ll trust it.” Naru’s voice was soft; surprisingly so. I looked up sharply, to see that all of his features had softened, and his eyes were surprisingly kind. Like Dream Naru’s, and for a moment I thought that I might be dreaming. I’d been demanding that people hear me for the past few days, but _Naru trusted me._ Just like that. I’d always had to fight for it before… “But right now, I need to look something up. Go find the others and help them search for the hitogata.”

I knew a dismissal when I heard it. I inclined my head slightly and swiftly left the room to join Ayako and Monk in the gardens.

* * *

“What did you say?” Ayako gasped incredulously.

Monk joined in with his own disbelief. “You’re kidding right?”

“I’m not.” I smirk slightly. “You just made some wrong assumptions about Naru.” Now that Naru had confirmed my suspicions, I decided to make Ayako and Bou-san aware of that fact. And if I took great pleasure in their reactions at the fact that I’d known before them, then that was my business.

“Oh, come on, making hitogata, performing purifications, and now this zuzou thing? Of course, we’d think he was an onmyoji. Anyone would.” Monk grumbled. My smirk just widened. “I’ve been putting up with his crap because I though ‘oh he’s a master, do what master says.’”

I roll my eyes. “You’re overreacting. He’s proven himself many times over – you should follow what he says because he knows what he’s doing.” I don’t want to reveal too much, he clearly doesn’t want the others to know about his abilities, and I’d respect that. That’s when I saw something over Monk’s shoulder. “Ms. Obusuna.” I said in surprise. What was she doing here?

“Yes. I just heard that Hara Masako was injured.” Her voice was just as soft as I remembered. Her face was set in a calm and serene and just the right amount of somber for what she was talking about.

I nodded sharply. “Yeah, she fell down the stairs.” Despite her demeanor, I still didn’t trust her. She was a teacher taking too large of an interest in a student who was an outlier. This just spelled trouble. I knew enough for that.

Ms. Obusuna looked politely worried. “Is she alright?”

Ayako turned to glare at the woman. She didn’t like Obusuna-san, but she wasn’t against her completely either. “At the moment it doesn’t appear to be threatening, but if she’d landed any differently, things could’ve ended a lot worse. Maybe you’ll see this as an opportunity to wake up and take a long hard look at this girl you’re defending.”

I whirled on the priestess. “Ayako!” I hissed, shooting her a glare. I didn’t like Obusuna, but that was uncalled for. You don’t tell people stuff about an ongoing case – especially people under suspicion??? Even if they believe that Kazai is the one behind this, who’s to say that she’s doing this alone.

Obusuna looked down, “I knew it. You’ve chosen to think Kazai is to blame for all of this too haven’t you.” She didn’t sound as sad as I would have expected. She did seem disappointed though, in the way that a teacher was when a student did poorly on a test.

“Of course, we do.” Ayako huffed.

“There’s certainly no reason _not_ to suspect her.”

Obusuna actually looked sad. “She’s so scared. I just really worry about her. I’m not sure what she’ll do.” Worried for her my ass. Also, who drops that last sentence when you’re trying to convince people that she’s innocent? Saying that you’re ‘not sure what she’ll do’ is basically admitting that you think that she’s capable of shit. To Monk and Ayako, that must be akin to admitting that she’s guilty! Oh wait… that’s not the only option.

“Wait a minute… she wouldn’t kill herself, would she?” No way, she was too fiery for that. Besides… I just… I couldn’t see it.

“I doubt it.” Ayako sneered. “I saw her over there spying on me and Monk earlier. For all we know maybe the little dear is deciding who she wants to curse next.” She stuck her nose in the air all in a hissy. Now she was just being bitchy to be bitchy. I know that’s hypocritical, but I mean… clients…

Obusuna was actually glaring at Ayako now. “Who do you think you–”

Fuck it.

I rushed over to stand in between Ayako and Obusuna. “I’m sorry for how… callously my colleague worded her opinion. But I assure you, not all of us think that way. I know it’s not Kazai causing all of these things to happen – my instincts have never been wrong before.” God, do I sound like a broken record right now.

Obusuna’s eyes widen as she looks down at me. To everyone else, she would look pleasantly surprised, but while the others saw her face, she was the only one that could see mine. And it was far from the sympathetic and slightly determined look that would have matched my words. No, my eyes were narrowed slightly and challenging. I know she sees that I don’t trust her, and she’s doing an admirable job of hiding her own steely determination. She knows that I suspect her, and there’s a part of her that’s ready to jump to defend not just Kazai, but herself.

“I can’t say that it’s anything more than instinct or my gut feeling, but like I said. I’ve never been wrong before.” _And I know that I’m not wrong about you._ Her eyes return to their normal size and she plasters on a polite look of shock.

“Oh my.” She smiled at me, though the smile didn’t reach her eyes at all. She knows what went unsaid. “And what’s your name?”

I know that I’m playing with fire – I know that this isn’t the smart thing to do. _I know_. “Akabane Karma.” But I still said it anyways. If it’s really her, then she’s the only one who would know my full name.

Nobody can say that when I have a theory I don’t commit.

“Thank you, Karma-kun.” Ohhhh, she went there. She chose to be all familiar with me, like I’d been her student for years. I was a university student thank you very much. Condescending twat. “That means a lot, and I know Kazai will be very happy to hear it too.” She looked back up at a stunned Monk and Ayako. “I would really appreciate it if the rest of you would stop accusing that young girl. That poor thing has been through enough as it is. Good day.”

Having said her piece, Ms. Obusuna turned and walked back towards the school. I wonder what she came out here to do originally before Ayako and Monk gave her something to say. “How can we stop accusing her? What if something worse happens because we sat back and didn’t act in time?” Oh Ayako, always with your stupid hypotheticals. Just give it a rest, there’s only so much that can be done. We don’t have enough conclusive evidence for any suspect. It looks bad for Kazai, but at this point her powers and will are just too weak.

“Yeah and it’s starting to look like it could be our turn next.” Monk grumbled.

* * *

Even as the sun was setting I was still digging through the bushes to look for hitogata. Monk, Ayako and I had split up a couple hours ago to divide and conquer. But that had been hours ago, and now things were getting pretty frustrating. Man, there was nothing here. I’ve checked literally everywhere that could be a good hiding spot. It was like they just _weren’t there_. Of course, Naru wasn’t going to let us go empty handed – so we had to _find_ something.

Of course, that’s when I heard it. It, being the sound of a child laughing. Wait no… was it crying? It sounded more like crying now that I thought about it. I turned around to look for the source of the noise and came to a chain link fence. I looked through it and actually saw what looked to be a small backpack.

Okay. What the fuck? How did a kid even get this far?

“Is someone out there? Hello?” I called through the fence. The crying sounds continued, so I did the logical thing and hoped the fence. “Where are you? Can you hear me? Please don’t cry!” I call as I begin to wander around the enclosed area. “Hey, just tell me where you are! Come on! It’s okay.” Some Yuasa student probably had a younger sibling and they wandered off.

That’s when I came across a cement area with a manhole cover. The cover was slid off of the actual hole, so I could actually see down it. Now how the fuck– oh fuck me did the kid fucking fall down the hole? How’d the lid even get so far off? Was there maintenance being done? You’d think that the school would have the decency to tell us if something like that was happening. Either way, the crying had just intensified, and I didn’t want to be the asshole that left a kid dying down there. Whoever had lost the kid was probably looking for them.

I move over and begin to drag the cover of the manhole so that I could actually have access to it. I was stronger than most, so I figure that if anyone were to try to put the cover back on, then I would be able to get out before that happened. I look into the hole to see a small child crouched at the bottom. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Don’t worry, I’m going to come down to get you.” I say as I begin to climb down into the hole. Not a smart thing, I know, but no one else was close.

The ladder seems sturdy enough, so I begin to make my way into hole. I’m about halfway in, when suddenly I hear Naru. “Karma!” I look up to see Naru standing on the outside of the enclosure. “What are you doing in there?” Boy, did he not sound impressed.

“There’s a kid trapped in here!” I call back, completely unperturbed. Look, I was behind a good citizen and all.

He looked stunned. “Kid…”

“Yeah, they dropped their backpack over…” I moved to point where, but the patch of dirt. Fuck. There was no backpack, and I had been able to see the kid clearly. Too clearly, even for my sight. There was no kid, this had all been a stupid ploy – so either Obusuna or Kazai had made a hitogata for me; most likely Obusuna since she knows my full name and actually has a reason to have it out for me – to get me. And I fell for it. Dammit.

Just when I realized that the backpack was missing, my foot slipped on the rung and suddenly I was holding myself up with just my arms at the edge of a manhole. I’ve done a lot of stupid things, but this is one of the stupidest. Of course, hindsight it 20/20.

Naru, surprisingly, seems much more worried than I am about this situation than I was because he immediately threw open the gate and ran over to me. “Karma!”

“I’m okay.” I call over, because I was, okay I mean. I had superhuman strength, I could hold myself up just fine. I even begin to pull myself up to prove this fact, but then something grabs my fucking ankle and begins to drag me down. I look over my shoulder, ignoring Naru’s approach, and see that a fucking demon child had a hold of my right ankle. With a surprising amount of strength, the spirit begins to pull me down, slowly but surely dragging me into the man hole.

Fruitlessly I try to kick off the spirit, but my other foot just goes right through it. The thing is, even with my strength, there was only so much that I could do to hold on, and before I even knew it I had gone over the edge and was free falling. I barely have a split second to think that I should begin to assume a fall recovery position when there’s a hand holding onto my wrist. I look up in surprise – Naru didn’t look like he would be able to support my weight.

“Listen to me, calmly put your foot on the ladder.” There was a deep strain in his voice and I knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer. “Can you do that?” Jeez Naru, just let me fall. No need for all that venom. I nod calmly – the grip on my ankle had relinquished for now, so I should be in the clear. I use my other hand to hold onto the edge of the ladder as I look up at Naru.

“If I fall don’t you dare use your powe–” I had placed a single foot on the ladder when the damn thing crumbled beneath my feet and that momentum pulled Naru forwards. The second we began falling I saw the sheer terror on Naru’s face.

As soon as I’d seen the ghost pulling on my ankle I’d known that I was going to fall (and I’m pretty sure the damn thing dislocated my ankle with how hard it was pulling). I’d done a quick cursory glance, and lucky for the both of us, there was very few rocks at the bottom. Naru’s power began fluctuating slightly and I knew he was about to flip us, so I grabbed onto him first. “Don’t!” I yelled as I pulled him on top of me and prepared to try and land with as little damage to myself as possible. It would be really troublesome to explain why I was able to heal a broken back.

The shock at being so suddenly moved broke Naru’s concentration, and that was enough for us to land without him using his powers. The landing was a heavy one, and almost as soon as I hit the ground, I blacked out.

* * *

“–ammit Karma! Wake up!” I very nearly jerk awake at the sudden shouting from just in front of my head. The only thing that stopped me from jerking upwards was a pain around my tailbone and Naru’s hands pressing down on my shoulders. “Don’t move you idiot! You might have damaged your spine.” He hisses. I squint slightly, looking up to see that Naru was leaning over me, kneeling just behind my head. His hands slowly migrated from my shoulders to my cheeks to hold my head still.

I groaned slightly before beginning to mentally catalogue my injuries. My right ankle was still dislocated, and there was a pain in my tailbone, left shoulder and wrist. The back of my head and ribs weren’t doing too swell either, but I could tell that nothing was broken. Maybe I had some serious bruising, but it wasn’t much worse than the damage I got from the last time I fell down a well. Deciding that I was okay, I begin to move to roll over, only to be stopped by Naru again.

“Idiot! I told you not to move!” the pressure on his face increased as Naru’s fingers clenched involuntarily. I lazily slapped at his hands away and rolled over onto my stomach. After no increase in discomfort, I slowly began to raise myself onto all fours, ignoring Naru’s frantic muttering and cursing as I did so.

“C-c-calm down, Naru. I’ve fallen… shit… from higher before.” I grind out as I slowly make my way towards the wall of the sewer and lean heavily against it with another groan as my bones began to settle again. My head was a little woozy, but that was probably due to the concussion that knocked me out. “I know how to fall.” I close my eyes and just sort of breath for a moment. Yep, my ribs are definitely bruised.

“Karma!” Naru snapped. When I opened my eyes, it was to see that Naru was once more right in front of me. He was sitting to my left but balanced on his right hand so that he could look into my eyes in the dim light. “You shouldn’t be moving. You have a serious concussion and your pupils are completely blown.” Well that was probably due to how weirdly my eyes just reacted. I _could_ see better in the dark, so of course my pupils did _something_ that you wouldn’t typically see in humans.

I wave off his concern, nearly tipping sideways. Okay, maybe I wasn’t as okay as I thought I was. “I’m fine,” I say even though I know I have some pretty bad injuries. “I’ve had to catalogue my own injuries before. Nothing too bad – well nothing that needs immediate attention anyways.” I’d like to _not_ have dislocated limbs, but I’d need to work up to setting them.

“Karma,” Naru’s voice had gone real gentle. Shit. Was I bleeding from somewhere that I couldn’t feel? “Why didn’t you let me use my PK? You hit rocks at the bottom, and I could’ve moved them.” I shrug, before wincing because ouch my fucking shoulder.

“Y’ur powers drain ya right?” I said, slurring a bit as I go. “Can’t have you passing out on me – or Gehenna forbid, dying. I can take m’re damage than y’u. Plus y’ur our only defense if it comes back.” I had valid points, even if I revealed a bit more than I’d like to have. The filter between my brain and my mouth had been shifted a bit to let more through with my concussion.

Naru looked very concerned as he began to scan my body – probably for injuries but my inner lovesick mind decided to make an appearance with a loud _heyyyyy_. “Yes, you’re right. But I’m much larger than you, and heavier. I could’ve killed you in the fall.”

“Nah, ‘m not so easily injured. ‘m stuuurdy.”

I sound very drunk.

Naru’s concern seemed to multiply. “Karma, focus on me. Tell me where you’re injured, I can’t see very well in the dark, so I won’t know unless you tell me where it hurts.” He says, his voice soft and flowing over me like a balm. You know? I’d forgotten how nice a deep voice can sound. And to think, he was only a year older than me and already his voice was so majestic. I looked up at him for a moment before carefully thinking over my injuries.

“Well, my right ankle is dislocated for sure, and I might have sprained both my shoulder and my wrist on the left side.” I muse as I begin to move the latter appendage experimentally, wincing when it pulled a little too far. “It’s probably minor, a day’s rest at worst. I heal fast.” I inform him as I look down at my wrist. “My tailbone and ribs are probably bruised, so that’ll take a couple of days before I’m 100% again, and then there’s the concussion. Possibly severe because I definitely passed out. How long was I out for exactly?” I ask in a rush.

“Only a minute or two.” Naru responded without thinking about it, but then my diagnosis seemed to catch up to him and the panic in his eyes increased. “What about your back? I know you fell on some rocks.”

It touched my heart that he was so concerned. Really. “Probably have a couple scrapes, maybe a small laceration. Nothing I’ll bleed out from. We’ll just clean it out when we get back.” I looked at my ankle where it was sprawled in front of me. “Hey, can ya help me get ma leg up over here.” It was an odd request, but Naru was oddly agreeable right now so he did what was asked without question. Once my ankle was in reach I deftly reached down and wrenched it back into place, taking a split second to make sure that I didn’t pinch any nerves. I yelp slightly before relaxing. “I’ll have to wrap that later.” I sigh, my head falling forwards.

Meanwhile, Naru is freaking out much more than I thought he would. “What the hell? You could’ve pinched a nerve! Wait for professionals to check you over.” He ordered. I considered rolling my eyes, but inevitably decided that that would be a mistake and I should not do that. I already have a splitting headache, no need to make it any worse. “I’ve set dislocated limbs before, Naru. Remember the Doll House? Were you there for that?” I try to remember, but everything’s just a little fuzzy right now.

“Did you tell anyone you’d be down here?” he asks suddenly, and I’ve realized that my eyes have managed to slip shut again. I lean my head back against the wall and it sorta just lolls too the side. Surprisingly, Naru is there in an instant and he’s supporting my head with his shoulder. I droop further, letting him support my upper body because yeah, my back hurts and the wall isn’t making it any better.

“No. Did you?”

He sighs softly. “Me neither.” Careful not to jostle my shoulder too much, he gently moved to lay me down on my side, supporting me the entire way. “What possessed you to come down here anyway?” His voice was a bit firmer now, and so was his touch, so I just closed my eyes and did my best to go limp without adding to the damage that my body was going through. I could already feel myself beginning to heal – it wasn’t exactly the most pleasant sensation in the world and Naru knew that I was concussed. Any odd behaviour can be blamed on that.

“There was this kid crying, so I started looking around and then I saw this little kid down here. Hmm didn’t realize that it was this dark down here – otherwise I woulda asked more questions about why the kid was so lit up. I can see pretty well, so I thought nothing of it until ya came.” I respond weakly. I’m really fucking tired, but what if that damn spirit returned (it was after both me and Naru)? Naru would be forced to use his powers, but maybe I could do _something._ Either way, I’d prefer to not be dead weight. “Hey Naru? Are you hurt anywhere? And don’t lie to me, I’ll know. I’m greeeeaaaat at knowing when someone’s lyin’ ta me.” Oh god he must thing that I’m an absolute moron. I certainly sound like one.

I think Naru might be smiling softly, but my eyes weren’t exactly open to see. I try to extend my senses to make sure that there isn’t anything coming for us. Naru can’t see very well and we could always be attacked by more than a glowing spirit. Sometimes they like to be invisible, and I was the better sensor out of the two of us. “No, I’m not injured. You took the brunt of the fall, and there’s nothing more than a couple bruises from when I rolled off of you.”

“You promise?” I sound like a petulant child.

“I promise.” He sounds honest enough. I decide to let it go for now. I feel sleepier anyways, I don’t think I have the energy to put up much of a fight. Gehenna, when was the last time I had a concussion this bad? It sucks. At least I didn’t feel nauseous yet. “So, we know that the hexer is going after you too now.” Naru’s voice suddenly broke the silence, a hard tone returning to his voice.

“Hmm, there’s something you should probably know. Obusuna-san wandered by while Ayako and Monk were bad mouthing Kazai and in an attempt to smooth things over I told her that I didn’t believe it was Kazai. I just happened to also imply that I thought it was her. She asked for my name and I couldn’t exactly not give it to her, so that’s probably when she decided to curse me. I know that it’s not Kazai and I think it’s her, so she wants me out of the way. Plus, I was the one to drop the fact that you’re an ‘onmyoji’ so either way you look at it I’m a threat.”

I could practically hear his frown.

When I opened my eyes again, it was to see that the light had faded even more from the sky as the sun finished setting. “Don’t worry Karma. When everyone gets back together to report, they’ll see that I’m not there and come looking for me. At least I know that Lin will.”

I nod sleepily. “You do have a habit of disappearing, Naru, you can’t blame Monk and the others for expecting it by now. I suppose Lin would be the only one who would think anything is wrong. And I pretty much challenged a teacher in front of them earlier – they’d probably guess I was just cooling off. Even though I’m always there they still treat me like a kid.” I pout slight, rolling over slightly so that I’m on my back again. My tailbone didn’t hurt anymore, so I know that my healing abilities had been mainly focused on the back injuries.

Suddenly, there was a series of splashes and drips that were very worrying. Without thinking much of it, I launched myself out of Naru’s lap (freak out about that later) and into a crouched defensive position in front of him. Naru had heard the same thing I did and wasn’t far behind in jumping to attention. “Whatever happens, stay close and keep calm.” He instructs as I begin to creep back until his knee hits my hip. The room surrounding area began to fill with a lightly glowing fog, illuminating out surroundings as the slightly purple glow focused on one spot.

I hiss involuntarily as the dark presence begins to solidify near the ceiling. “It’s alright. The spirit couldn’t have gotten much more powerful in one day. Stay calm and we’ll be just fine.” The spirit thing had just solidified into the woman that I remember from yesterday. Her eyes snap open, and then suddenly she reaches into her mouth and pulls a fucking scythe from her mouth. Okay, no she has gotten stronger. I begin to reach for my powers, preparing to do something and feeling Naru doing the same. I want to say that he shouldn’t use them, but it’s still an unknown as to whether any of my powers would be of any use in this situation. It’s not like I can just start reciting bible verses in hopes that I’ll find one of its fatal verses.

The thing then begins to leak blood from various orifices as it swoops down to hover in front of us. I begin to growl, a deep rumbling in my chest, as the woman approaches. Naru rested his hand on my uninjured shoulder as he leaned a bit closer, not breaking eye contact with the creature sent after him. It grinned with a horrifying number of teeth before floating away and disappearing. There’s a moment where the only sound is my growls that echo through the sewers. But then a bright light shines down from the top of the manhole and I immediately cut off my growling.

“Naru! Are you down there?!” I hear a deep voice call down the hole. Naru jumps up, walking over to stand under the beam of light.

“It’s Lin.” He calls back to me and then turns back up to Lin. “That was quick. We need a ladder and a flashlight please.”

* * *

“I fell down a well again!” I call cheerfully, careening sideways a bit as my sense of balance went bye bye. Lin had finally let me down when we’d gotten about two doors away from the base, and as such, I was able to confidently stumble into the base where Ayako and Monk seemed to be pacing anxiously. Ayako nearly shrieked as she ushered me over to the couch and ran to grab the first aid kit.

Meanwhile Naru and Lin walked in a couple paces behind me, dumping a bag of hitogata on the table in front of Monk. Naru immediately began digging through them while Lin went to grab his computer. “You know it’s actually kind of impressive that there’s this many of them.” Monk remarks as he stares at the pile of hitogata sitting on the table in the middle of the base’s table. “I never would have thought to look in the sewer.”

Naru had just finished digging through the pile and was holding a doll in his hand triumphantly. “There’s Karma.” He turned to look up at us. “So, Karma’s doll, and also the ones for Ms. Hara, Mr. Yoshino and myself were found.” After Lin had returned with a ladder and a flashlight, he’d carried me out of the sewers while Naru looked around; surprisingly finding a small pile of hitogata.

“Our names weren’t there?” Monk asked.

Ayako shrugged, “well that’s a relief.” She gently wrapped a bandage around my left wrist despite my attempts at protest. I was lucky that I got out of using a sling and a crutch. After showing the pseudo doctor that my foot was just fine despite having been reset literally half an hour before, she let me go without much of a fuss on that matter. She claimed that it looked like all the damage was minimal Like I’d just twisted it while walking as opposed to the bone having not been in its socket.

Naru hadn’t said anything, but I did see his eyes widen slightly out of the corner of my eye. He’s seen my ankle and he’d seen me reset it. Dammit. “I’m going to need you to take off your shirt.” She says softly to me as she nudges me so that I can turn around.

“I don’t know,” Monk joked weakly. “I kind of feel left out.”

“Now we have to burn the hitogata and put the ashes in the river. Then the power of the enmei will be broken.” Naru declared in a direct disjoint to the series of dialogue that just passed.

Ayako turned to him while I stalled in the removal of my shirt. “But do you think that this will stop the hexer?

“We’re not even completely sure who it is.” Monk added.

I glared up at them. “You know who it’s not? Kazai.” I sound petulant as all hell. I blame the concussion that I still had.

“Karma, come on. This is really getting old. Do you have a crush on her or something?” Ayako scolded and teased me in one fell swoop.

My eyes widened. “No way! I’m gay. I just know that she’s innocent.” And then I realize that I’d fucked up and basically come out to my colleagues and boss. However, no one reacted shocked by this news and simply acted as if I’d said I was a Capricorn or something. Huh. How about that.

Then she scowled as she saw that I still hadn’t taken off my shirt. “And I told you to take off your shirt. Naru said that you landed on some rocks and you don’t want that kind of thing getting infected. You were in the sewers!”

“It’s fine really, I’ll just take care of it later–” I begin trying to weasel my way out of this is because seeing me shirtless is never a fun thing, but Naru quickly cuts off that avenue.

“Karma. Do what Ms. Matsuzaki says.”

I shoot him a glare, but he responds with a stern ‘I am the boss’ stare. Now _everyone’s_ eyes were on me. My face set in a solid stink expression, I slowly begin to remove my loose long sleeve shirt so that I don’t irritate my shoulder. I was lucky that I’d tucked my tail into my pants today, otherwise we would have had a major problem. In a second my skin was in plain view and there were shocked gasps from everyone in the room. Even Lin and Naru were visibly affected by the sight.

My tattoos were in plain view, although I still had on the metal arm braces to cover the unexplainable ones. But the tattoos on my arms probably weren’t their main focus. There was the wing tattoo on my back, but even that couldn’t hide the vast number of scars that covered the entire expanse of my back. There were smaller older scars from his childhood, but others are from True Cross. Those were fresher, some still red and most still raised. All in all, it didn’t paint a pretty picture.

“Oh my god…” I heard Ayako whisper and then light touches began to flutter over my back. “Karma…” she didn’t seem to know what she wanted to say.

“Just clean the scrapes, Ayako.” I snap, bunching my shirt in my hands in frustration. I don’t like this situation _at all_. Ayako begins to clean my cuts without another word. Half a minute later, there was this heavy presence in the room. I turned around suddenly, jostling Ayako and almost knocking her to the floor.

She began to yell, “hey what’s the idea?!” But I cut her off before she could continue.

“Naru you need to calm down. _Right now_.” He was looking down at the table and a shadow had fallen over his eyes. His skin was pale – paler than I’ve ever seen it before. Come to think of it, it had been pale even before we got out of the sewers. Did that idiot use his powers to try and wake me up? “Naru!” I snap again. “ _Stop it. Now._ ” But he didn’t seem to hear me. His aura just kept growing and radiating with power until it actually became hard to breath in the room.

But then abruptly, Naru’s aura begins to dampen rapidly. It just collapsed on itself and shrank into next to nothing which was thoroughly terrifying. Monk carefully moved towards the Naru and lightly touched his shoulder. “Naru?” But Naru couldn’t hear us anymore because with that light push he completely fell out of his chair unconscious.


	10. File 3 - Part 4

[Thursday]

[Night]

In a second, Lin had launched himself across the room and pulled Naru’s unconscious form onto his lap, carefully checking his pulse and breathing in one go. “Somebody find a phone! He needs an ambulance.” He ordered as Monk immediately ran and pulled out his cellphone and made the call. I pulled on my shirt and moved over to Naru and Lin and began performing a cursory check.

“I’m certified first aid.” I say quietly, “I know what I’m doing, and I know why he’s like this. The idiot probably tried to wake me up when we fell. I took the brunt of the fall so we avoided that use of power, but his reaction earlier is what pushed him over his limit.” I say quietly so that only Lin can hear. Lin shoots me an unreadable look before allowing me to check over Naru fully. “I can see his aura, and right now it’s near nonexistent. His breathing is shallow, and his heart rate is elevated. It flutters, and it’s weak.” I diagnose.

Soon there were sirens going in the air and Lin carefully lifts up Naru’s prone form and makes his way down to the front of the school without paying any mind to the three of us still in the base. He doesn’t tell us what he’s planning or what we’re supposed to do, but Naru is unconscious and in some serious danger right now, so I didn’t blame him.

I was just as worried about him.

“Okay let’s go ahead and get rid of the hitogata.” Monk said, trying to take charge in the absence of both Naru and Lin. He had been the unspoken leader, seeing as he was the oldest and the most experienced out of the remainder. “After that we should go back to the office and wait for Lin to contact us. We won’t change our strategy or pull out of here unless Naru gives the word.”

Ayako looked troubled, but she didn’t put up much of a fight. “You’re right. Let’s do it.”

That fucking idiot! If he’d just listened to me then he wouldn’t be like this. Fuck. It’s all my fucking fault. I don’t know what set him off when his power spiked, but I know that he had done _something_ with his powers in that sewer. It hadn’t been in the initial fall – thank god, I feel like he would have definitely collapsed sooner if that were to have happened – but anything after I passed out is fair game.

“Hey, don’t worry. Naru’s going to be fine.” I looked up as Monk patted my head awkwardly. “Cheer up okay? Let’s go make a monster bonfire.”

I shook my head. “It’s my fault.” I mumble. “He was trying to pull me out and then we both fell in. I told him not to, but I passed out as soon as we hit the ground. He might’ve done something dumb when I didn’t wake up.” I confessed quietly. “His aura nearly disappeared Monk. That’s not good.” Monk sort of gives me an awkward perplexed look for a moment, but then I can visibly see him dismissing my comments as confusion from the concussion (my pupils were still blown, and Ayako had been sufficiently concerned about it when she’d seen them) and moved on.

* * *

[Friday]

Monk chanted ominously over the fire as both Ayako and I knelt beside him. In the chaos from having to make our own decisions without Naru, Ayako seemed to forget about my injuries and for that I was thankful. They’d be pretty much healed by tomorrow… well later today, and her forgetting about it (and my scars) can only work in my favour.

The fire didn’t take long to burn, and soon we were left with a large pile of ashes that Ayako quickly dumped into the river that we had performed the ritual beside.

So, the dolls were burned, but we still didn’t have a confirmed hexer. Getting rid of these hitogata wasn’t going to stop whoever it was.

I had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

The next morning, well Friday morning like a reasonable time morning, I didn’t head over to the office building. I know that Monk said that we should meet there, but I just… didn’t go. I had business to attend to at the school. So, after donning an outfit that covered all of my visible injuries – extra long sleeves are a blessed thing because I still had the wrappings on my wrist since it wasn’t quite healed yet.

“So how is Mr. Shibuya doing?” Obusuna asks in her demure way. Instead of going to the office, I’d gone to the school to talk with Kazai and Obusuna – the two people who are definitely involved in the curse.

“I haven’t heard.” I said seriously. “But you know if anything bad happens to Naru, I’ll never forgive whoever’s responsible. And you’ll find that I’m quite the dangerous enemy to have.”

Kazai was immediately defensive. “Oh, and you think that’s _me_ , don’t you.” She sneers. I’ll say it again and again, for someone who wants everyone to believe that they’re innocent, she’s really not helping her case at all. “You think I curse you. You and Hara Masako, and your boss Mr. Shibuya. You think I did the same thing with Mr. Yoshino and all the other people that got hurt. And that I’m making all these scary things happen around here. Why don’t you just come out and say that you think I’m guilty.”

I looked her directly in the eyes. “I fell down a manhole, Kazai. I hate to break it to you, but I almost died, and because my boss has also been targeted, he’s in the hospital. If you think that this is _funny_ , then you better pray that he’s okay because otherwise? Whoever did this, _killed a person._ ” Kazai takes a step back at my serious onslaught. “I’ve said it numerous times, I don’t believe that it’s you, but if it turns out that my instincts are wrong, there will be hell to pay, and it will be on your shoulders.”

I clench my fists and level one of my most hateful glares at her. “Because you know what? I don’t think I much care if it’s you or your teacher anymore. You don’t have the power or conviction to do any of this, but everything here leads back to you.” I say, sneering with a look of pure condescension on my face. “And it’s your own fault that everyone believes that this is you. You know, I haven’t once seen you deny any of the accusations or even try to defend yourself. All this evidence against you, at least half of it’s on you, so stop playing the victim because you’re not the one who’s almost been killed because of this.”

Then I turn to Obusuna, who was just passively watching this entire exchange. “He dies, and I’m out for blood.”

We’re interrupted before any of us could say more by that Takahashi girl opening the door to the classroom. “Excuse me, Ms. Obusuna?” she asked shyly as she entered the room.

“Yes? What is it?” Obusuna was good at composing herself. I give her credit for that.

Yuko smiled nervously as she sensed the tension in the room. “I wanted to tell Karma that we just got a phone call from Mr. Shibuya.”

“Naru called?” I raised an eyebrow. “Well then we best be off.” And then I moved to leave the room, not once looking back at Obusuna and her precious Kazai.

* * *

“Are you sure he’s here?” Ayako asked snootily as they stood outside of room 503. I was about a hallway or two away along with Obusuna, Kazai, and Takahashi. Of course, I could still see and here the entire conversation. “I don’t see his name anywhere.” There was no name on the name plate; a key point in which I carefully filed away for later. Did that mean Shibuya Kazuya wasn’t his real name? How quaint. He had something to hide.

“This is the room number Lin told me.” Monk shrugged, having yet to have noticed my presence. “If we’re wrong we can always say that we’re sorry.” He knocked lightly before being let in by Lin. The door didn’t close completely behind them, and it was easy to hear what was happening. “S’up Lin? Heyy! Naru! So, how’re you feeling, man?”

“It was just mild anemia. Nothing worth talking about. What did you do with the hitogata.” Ah Naru, even in a hospital bed he was all about business.

“We burned them up and threw the ashes in the river like you told us to. Now all that’s left is to find out who made them.”

“I’m almost positive I’ve figured _that_ one out.”

I could hear the incredulity in Monk’s voice. “You’ve found proof that it’s the Kazai girl?”

Ayako’s sass was just as apparent. “Of course. Who else would it be?”

“I’d like to meet with the culprit and have a little chat. Then this case will be closed, and we could move onto something else. You two could go now.” ‘Could’ not ‘can’. It wasn’t the dismissal that they thought it was, but more of an offering of an out.

“Wait a sec, we just barely got here, Naru!” Ayako nearly yelled.

They still don’t get that everything that Naru does has a reason. He’s not a cruel person, he’s giving them an out for a reason. Monk didn’t see that. “You mean you’re not even going to let us in on who we’ve been looking for?!”

“We need to handle this carefully. That’s all.”

Yeah, and Monk wasn’t exactly the most delicate. Him and Ayako were the most emotional when dealing with clients. I can be pretty emotional, but I’m more similar to Naru temper-wise. This case was unique in the way that our team was targeted seriously by the hexer. “Well guess what? I made a commitment to this case just like you, and I think that I deserve to know who the bastard is that we’ve been hunting down. They almost killed Karma!”

“You’re out of your mind if you think that I’m going to back out now when we’re so close to the truth.” Ayako agreed with the monk beside her.

And that’s when I opened the door and came strolling into the room, along with Yuko and the two suspects. I immediately went to Naru’s side and stood by the bed. “Just anemia you say? That’s a relief.” I grin ruefully at him before leaning down. “You’re aura’s not back to normal yet. It’s still weak, will you be okay?” I whisper in his ear so that he’s the only one that can hear.

“I’m fine, Karma.”

Ayako raised an eyebrow at me, but she didn’t comment. Both her gaze and Monk’s had been drawn to the other people walking through the door. “Yuko? What are you doing here?”

“I asked her to come.” Naru said simply as I rose out of my lean to stand straight. “Is Kazai with you?”

Yuko smiled brightly and gestured to the two women behind her. “Yeah, she’s right here. And one more too! Come on in.” Obusuna was clutching a bouquet of flowers as she stood beside her student.

“Oh hello, excuse me. I hope I’m not intruding on everyone.” She smiled brightly. I glared at her with distrust from Naru’s bedside. She glanced at me before pointedly looking away, although her smile did tighten ever so slightly. She knows where she stands with me.

Lin beckons the three girls over, and they sit down in the seats across the wall beside Naru’s bed while Monk and Ayako moved to join Lin standing around the end of Naru’s bed.

“I have a couple of questions. The first one is for Yuko and Kazai. Did either of you two hear about me being an onmyoji from talking to Karma?” he began, opening his notebook and holding his pen aloft.

Yuko looked confused. “Being a what?” But Kazai just sorta bulldozed over her.

“Yeah I did. But so what?”

Naru didn’t lose his cool, and my smirk just continued to grow as I saw little bits of Naru’s notes over his shoulder. He had written it in English and had obviously forgotten that I knew how to read it. He just assumed that I didn’t and didn’t bother to hide his notes. Either that or he wanted me to see them. “Did you pass this information along to anyone?”

“What the hell kind of difference would it make if I told anybody?” Kazai demanded, losing her temper. “Why are you asking these stupid questions? Just say I’m guilty! Just say I like to curse people!” There she goes again, being a complete and utter idiot. “I’m not stupid, why else would you have asked me to come here.”

Naru stared at her. “I need you to answer the question. You must have told someone that I was an onmyoji.” His voice suddenly deepened as his irritation became apparent. “Now who was it.”

Obusuna glanced at Kazai. “I suppose that she did confide to me that she’d heard that. But please rest assured that I haven’t shared this with anyone else.” Whoop there the teacher goes, putting the final nails in her coffin.

“I appreciate that.” Naru inclined his head and flipped through his notebook. “I have just one more question to ask; where are you from, Obusuna-san?”

Obusuna looked confused and slightly weary as she answered his question. “I’m from Fukushima. But why do you ask?” To be honest, I didn’t really know where Naru was going with this either – did he dig through her past and find something?

Naru closed his notebook and placed it on his lap before turning to look directly at Obusuna. “Fukushima… Thank you very much.” His bangs fell over his eyes as he tipped his head down slightly. “The case is solved. I believe I have a complete picture of the events at Yuasa and the person who’s behind them.” Everyone else in the room immediately began to tense.

“You know who did it.” Kazai eyes widened and she subconsciously sunk into her seat, curling in on her self in order to try and make herself appear smaller. It was a protection mechanism.

Monk crossed his arms as he stared at Naru in disbelief. “You figured it out from those questions?”

“It’s really not that hard if you consider the facts of the case and the information that Karma has provided. We’re dealing with zuzou who use enmei or hitogata. And if the hitogata are found and disposed of properly, the hex should be broken.”

Monk leaned forwards. “Okay? So, who is it?!” Everyone was at the edge of their figurative and literal seats as we listened to Naru.”

“You’re trying to say that it’s me! That I did it, aren’t you!” God will this girl _give up_? This is becoming really fucking annoying, on top of it being completely illogical.

“Calm down. It’s not you.” Naru did his equivalent of what would have been a snort if he was a normal person. So essentially, he blew out a bit more air from his nose than if it was a natural exhale. “I doubt you know how to form a hitogata or have the skill it takes to perform a zuzou curse. Therefore, we can rule you out.”

Ayako was losing her patience. “Alright then, who is it?”

“Yeah quite stalling, Naru! Who is it?” Monk let the damn man speak.

“Our hexer… is Ms. Obusuna.”

Fuck yeah I fucking knew it! You can’t fucking trust teachers. They’re always trying to screw you over. Also, Naru gave me credit for helping him solve a case? I _told_ him that my instincts have never been wrong! I tilt my head and begin to bore holes into the side of Obusuna’s face as she twists her features into that of shock.

“Inside a manhole on the grounds we found hitogata with the names of myself, Karma, and Ms. Hara. As well as Mr. Yoshino and many other people in the school. You were the one who made them, aren’t you, Ms. Obusuna.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She smiled brightly, her entire face the perfect picture of serenity. “What on earth is a hitogata?”

Naru plays along. “A straw doll used to cast the zuzou hex. If there are anymore out there, then please help me find them. And I want you to promise that you won’t make any more ever again.” A flash or irritation flickered across the biology teacher’s face.

“How could I make such a promise when I’ve done nothing wrong.” Bitch. First of all, fuck you. You may think that you’ve done nothing wrong, but she literally tried to kill uninvolved parties? Like we hadn’t done any shunning, but that didn’t stop the bitch from trying to eliminate me and Naru.

“You are guilty, Ms. Obusuna.”

“Am I? There must be some confusion.”

“All of the evidence points to your involvement.”

“And what sort of proof do you have?”

Obusuna was blatantly challenging Naru now. Her face had gone just as stony as Naru’s had, and the battle of wills was so tense that you could practically taste it. With every denial, Obusuna was just digging her into a deeper hole in the eyes of the SPR crew. She wasn’t fooling anyone anymore. Not with the pathetic innocent façade; not anymore. 

“You’re wrong! I caused all of it to happen. I’m the one who’s guilty!” Kazai tried, unable to consolidate the image of her teacher with the killer that Naru was making her out to be. Poor girl, accepting that your teacher has betrayed you is always a hard thing.

Naru closed his eyes, “the victims hurt you. They were the ones who attacked and rejected you and publicly ridiculed your psychic powers, which makes it appear that the motivation for the culprit to begin casting curses was the Kazai Panic.”

“Then correct me if I’m mistaken, but wouldn’t that make Kazai more of a suspect than I am? She even confessed to you just now, didn’t she?”

That bitch said that with a smile on her face. You could visibly see just how much that one line. She looked so heartbroken that her trusted teacher would throw her under the bus like this. I’d feel bad for the girl if she wasn’t such a shit. I’m sure that’s how the people at Kunugikaoka felt the same way about me. Naru softened his tone ever so slightly as he looked over at the clearly distraught girl. “Actually no. Kazai can be ruled out because of her relationship with Murayama.”

“Murayama?”

“Yes, the first student to have an accident due to sitting at that desk. Didn’t they know each other, Yuko?” Naru grinned, well the corner of his mouth curved up wards ever so slightly, but I knew that he saw the mistakes that Obusuna was making. He was a good observer – good for cases, but no so good for me. I had a lot of secrets, and just like at True Cross, everything was slowly but surely falling apart and becoming more obvious. Maybe it was just the involvement of a supernatural (paranormal or religious I guess) element that did it, but I just seemed to be incapable of hiding for long. 

Yuko sat up in surprise at being addressed. “Huh? Ah, yeah. I’m pretty sure that both Murayama and Kazai were members of the liberal arts club for a little bit before Kazai quite and joined the biology club.”

Huh. “Were you really?” I ask absentmindedly. That was just another little fact that helped build a case against Obusuna. Naru really did his research.

Kazai had completely curled in on herself, shrinking into the chair and looking at her lap. She seemed ashamed, or maybe she was just grieving. She was odd – I didn’t understand her. “For a little bit. Sophomore year.” She mumbled as if she were confessing to doing a crime.

“It was weird when Murayama yelled at her that time.” Yuko broke in again, looking over at the girl beside her with worry. “After I remember that we were all sort of shocked that she actually had the courage to talk to an upperclassman in such a nasty way.” I mean, I badmouthed upperclassmen all the time. Age wasn’t exactly all that much of an issue to me as most of the time, despite my age, I _was_ the upperclassmen. Heck, I finished high school in two years, so I was used to the looks that we got. But if it was weird for these kids, then okay.

“If our culprit personally knew the student she was targeting, she wouldn’t have had to go to the trouble of putting a blanket curse on that desk.” Naru cocked his head to the side. “So why did she do it. Why would someone choose to curse a seat instead of a person?” It wasn’t a question. He knew why, and he was going to tell us. ‘It’s simple; the hexer didn’t know Murayama or what she even looked like.”

“Based on what you’ve just said, I don’t think you have enough evidence to convict me. Ha! I could’ve easily asked around if I wanted to find out what her name was.”

I leaned forwards slightly so that I was at the centre of the woman’s eyesight. “But do we really need to convict you?” No one but her and Naru would have heard or seen me, because of how quietly it was spoken and the fact that no one was looking at me other than Obusuna. She narrowed her eyes at me but otherwise didn’t comment as Naru continued his explanation.

“Following Murayama’s complaint. Those who denied the existence of psychic abilities banded together and made their feelings known. By that point, you and others were made to feel isolated. Would you really have felt free to ask?” Obusuna just smiled, although it was starting to get increasingly creepier and uncomfortable. “We also have to consider the names you used. Three people outside of Yuasa high school were targets of curses. That would be Karma, Hara Masako, and myself. Aside from Ms. Hara, who’s celebrity nature makes it common knowledge, there are a limited number of people who know Karma’s name or mine. Speaking for myself, I can only remember disclosing my whole name, to the school principal, and then to you in the lab when we first met.”

I inclined my head. “I didn’t tell anyone my name, not until you asked earlier in the courtyard when I challenged you.” I add in, throwing in my helpful two cents.

Naru nodded at my insertion. “The principal doesn’t know Karma’s name, so that would mean, as far as I can tell, that you’re the only person here who knows all three of our proper names, Ms. Obusuna.”

“Why would I want to put a curse on you? What kind of motive can I possibly have? I don’t even know you.” Obusuna’s fingers tightened ever so slightly on the bouquet of flowers in her hand, wrinkling the paper and cellophane.

Naru was relentless in his presentation of the evidence. It wasn’t obvious, but I could tell that he was just a little bit satisfied as he delivered this little case. She had almost killed him, so I wasn’t surprised. “A few minutes ago, you said that Kazai told you that she had talked to Karma, who told her that I was an onmyoji… isn’t that right?

“Yes. And?” Ohhhhh, she was getting annoyed. Her responses were more clipped and minimal.

“Zuzou hexes come from onmyodo. If I were an onmyoji, I might be able to put a stop to them, so you tried to get rid of me before I could figure it out and act.”

“If that’s true then why would I bring Karma into it?” she asks, a slightly self-satisfied look taking over her face. She thought that she had us, that she’d found a way to prove us wrong.

Nope. “Karma has demonstrated unusually sharp intuition on this case. For example, he was the first person to declare that Kazai was innocent, and he’s been telling us that we couldn’t trust you for days. You were afraid that people would start to believe him, so you cast a curse on Karma.”

I turn to Naru and beam at him. “And it certainly doesn’t help your case that I openly challenged you either. I know you knew that I suspected you, and you don’t keep as good of a poker face as you think!” I wink at her. There was a beat of silence.

“It’s not true! Ms. K’s been the only one who believed in me.” Kazai said, her voice wobbling with emotion. “I did it! I said it in an assembly in front of everyone! I wanted them all to just go away! All of those people who made fun of me and treated Ms. K like garbage just because she was my friend. And then people started having accidents, Mr. Yoshino and Masako were really hurt.” She began to cry, sobbing into her hands. She seemed to be dealing with this betrayal by breaking down, but at least she wasn’t going on a weird murderous rampage like I did. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do! I can’t help it. It’s me, it’s all my fault. I cursed them when everything started! I didn’t mean to!”

Damn. She was completely falling apart now. Holy shit. “It’s easy to understand why you’d want to protect your teacher, Kazai. She was the one to stand up and defend you, but there’s no way a novice caused this. You simply don’t have the ability to do it. You’ve even had difficulty bending spoons lately and that’s a much easier skill.” I tell her, trying my best to not make my voice sound too harsh. I understood, on some level what she was feeling right now.

“Where do you suppose that Kazai would have learned that particular trick to bend the spoon on the edge of the chair, Ms. Obusuna?” Naru said, jumping off of my point when he saw that Kazai had raised her head up to look at me with tear-filled eyes.

Obusuna’s voice was like ice. “I’m sure I don’t know.”

“She learned it from you.” Well I can’t say that I’m _not_ surprised, but in hindsight it’s pretty obvious. “Yes, you passed on your knowledge. No one else would know to do that.” Lin took that as his cue to walk over and hand Naru a file folder while Naru continued his explanation. “You have a remarkable understanding of psychic powers and parapsychology, with some interest in some specialized fields as well. I began to suspect that your involvement with Kazai’s powers and her wellbeing wasn’t purely for philanthropic purposes. So, I followed my hunch and started poking around some old papers.”

He was flipping through the file folder and produced a magazine, with which he also began flipping through. “It wasn’t long before I came across this. According to the date here, it was during the psychic craze that you were a child. Among the children who claimed to be able to bend spoons was a little girl named Obusuna. As the craze grew and drew attention, many children began to come forward and claim they too had psychic powers. At first the children became immediate darlings. Both television and print covered the story, running specials and lavishing them with attention. But as curiosity began to fade, the public began to look down on the kids.”

Obusuna’s gaze continued to harden the longer Naru spoke, soon devolving into a glare that looked oddly out of place on her face. “People began to call them fakes and questioned whether any of them had any real powers at all. One of the girls who came forward during that time was a girl named Obusuna, from the Fukushima prefecture.” I looked down at the magazine on his lap and saw that he had stopped on an article complete with pictures of a child bending a spoon off the edge of a chair. Oh, so that’s where Kazai learned that.

“I wasn’t a fake!” Obusuna yelled suddenly. “I could do it! I really did bend those spoons and a lot of people saw it! It’s just… sometimes it was easy, and other times it just wouldn’t work. And then that reporter came to see me. I thought if I failed he would write about what a liar I was, and everyone would believe him! So just that once I decided to use a little trick that another one of the psychic kids had shown me to bend the spoon. I was just so nervous!” Wow, she sounded really broken up about this. “There was a photographer. He caught me. And no one was there to tell me I didn’t have to fake it. I didn’t have anyone to teach me that when you can’t make it work, it’s okay to just admit it.”

“I’m sorry.” Naru said after a pause. “It’s just a shame Japan left the reputation of ESP and psychic research in the hands of the media. There were no credible research institutions at the time to determine whether there was real truth to the children’s claims and abilities. This should never have been left to the court of public opinion. The media will always care more about headlines than truth.” His voice was serious and grave, it rang with a truth that I was certain that everyone could here. Naru had had experience with bad press, he spoke like he knew what it was like to have the media used against him.

Kazai wasn’t paying attention to his wise word though. Instead, she had turned her tearstained face to that of her teacher’s. “Did you really do it?” she asked quietly.

“At first,” she begins, “I only wanted to defend Kazai’s talent.” Notice how she only says, ‘at first.’ “But then it got crazy and people started saying things. Like ‘why don’t you really help that girl instead of encouraging her?’ and asking me how I could call myself a teacher.”

“And so you...” Naru said, waiting for her to fill in the blank.

“That’s right.” Then, she looks up, all signs of distress and anger gone from her face in an instant. In its place was a bright smile and slightly _wrong_ eyes. There was almost a maniacal gleam in them. “It was just supposed to be a little prank.”

It was just supposed to be a prank? She almost killed so many people? That’s not a prank. I kill people for a living – I get it. But as one of those people that she had been ‘pranking,’ I don’t really take too kindly to almost being murdered after being pulled down a manhole. And she’d hurt Naru. After all the shit that I’d had to deal with over the years, I don’t take too kindly to people I like being hurt.

“About 10 years ago, an unusual car wreck occurred on a small street near a Tokyo publishing firm.” He pulled out a newspaper clipping from his folder and proceeded to read from it. “The driver, who’s erratic steering caused the accident, gave a detailed report to the police. He is quoted as saying that ‘suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere, a disembodied hand appeared before my eyes.’” Everyone just sort of stared at Naru for a moment as they comprehended what he had just told us.

“Oh my gosh. That’s what happened to Mr. Yoshino.” Yuko gasped, looking sick to her stomach. Obusuna just kept on smiling, not a hint of remorse in her eyes. 

“The man who had caused the accident, also happened to be the reporter who published your story.” Naru continued, placing the finals nails in Obusuna’s metaphorical coffin. She had totally gone after the man that had exposed her. As much as I hated to admit it, I could respect that. But because I don’t like her, I was still going to condemn her for it. It’s not like anyone here knows about my checkered past anyways.

Obusuna just laughed. “Are you accusing me of that?”

“It certainly seems likely.” Oh boy, Naru was so grave. He disapproved of seeking revenge then. I wonder how he’d react to finding out the shit that I’ve done and continue to do. I dread telling him that I’ll be taking a week off after this case. Nagisa had sent me a text saying that there was a job that specifically requested the ‘red headed demon who calls himself a reaper’ so I had to go find out who it was and why they wanted my services. I would be going to England for this hit, so I’d need travel time on top of job time. I could claim that I had a school trip, but Naru would see right through that, so I guess I could claim that I had a second job or something.

“But if you did cause the car to wreck, then there’s no way in hell that we’ll believe that you intended these pranks of yours to be harmless.” Naru was right though. She’d been doing this while claiming that it was all for Kazai, but minutes earlier she’d been trying to claim that it was all Kazai. She can’t fool us, her motivations in this were purely selfish. Admittedly valid, but not the best or cleanest way to handle things. She’d left too many clues – gotten too sloppy. And now she was on my radar, and I still had favours that I could cash in and people at my beck and call. “Luckily no one involved has died yet,” Naru continued, oblivious to the slowly forming plans in my mind. “But it was only a matter of time. If we hadn’t found that hitogata in the desk and another student had been assigned there, they could’ve been dragged to death by a train.”

“Oh yes. That would have been tragic.” The smile on her face was infuriating. “But then, if someone had died, then maybe people would have learned a lesson about respecting things in this world that can’t be explained by science.” She got up and walked over to go to the table on the other side of the room. On her route, she just so happened to pass by me. There was an odd look in her eye, and without thinking too much about it, I suddenly moved forwards to stand in her way, grabbing the flowers out of her hands.

There was something wrong with them. I was sure of it. Obusuna looked panicked as I pulled away the cellophane and paper and unraveled the bouquet. “What are you doing?! You give those back!” She yelled, pure panic in her tone. She was once more falling apart, and in a second, I understood why. Amongst the stems of the flowers was a small wooden figure. It was a hitogata.

Being the smug asshole that I am, I hold the doll up so that everyone in the room can see it before walking over and handing it to Naru. He looked down, disappointment evident on his face. “You must be exhausted by now, Ms. Obusuna. A zuzou takes both mental _and_ physical strength.” Naru looked up, catching Obusuna’s wild eyes in his steely glare. “And it seems that you’re beginning to look pretty worn out.”

She closed her eyes. “Perhaps… I suppose you could be right.”

* * *

[Wednesday]

[Night]

When I got back to my hotel, the first thing that I did was dump my coat and head on over to my laptop. Naru had taken the news of my absence surprisingly well. He said it was fine considering he would be stuck in the hospital for a few more days due to Lin’s paranoia. Something I found a little odd, but I didn’t dare comment on it. I didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

It turns out the client that Nagisa had messaged me about hadn’t wanted anything too difficult. They’d just been a fussy client who wanted the best of the best. Normally I’d be flattered, but after the case that we’d just had, I disliked being away from the team. Nagisa had promised to watch them for me though, so I wasn’t as sore about leaving as I could’ve been. The doll that I’d slipped into Naru’s bag before leaving the hospital also helped.

(I was planning on attempting to turn one into a keychain and gifting it to him so that I’d be able to keep… tabs on the two mysterious people that I work for. If he doesn’t question the doll, then I’ll see about actually going through with that plan.)

The actual assassination had been easy, but now was the first time that I’d actually have free time. It was now that I’d taken the time to finally begin to do some research concerning SPR and all related ventures. On the last case, the name Oliver Davis had been brought up and Naru’s reaction to it had been a bit odd. So, me being me, I set my search parameters to a more international scale and then began to find every single webpage that even mentioned the name Oliver Davis.

I didn’t go to the Tricksters about this as I wasn’t sure if it was true. I don’t really know why else I kept this little investigation to myself, but it just felt wrong to tell other people. I was all about communicating (the less you tell the people involved, the more likely you are to screw up), but this really didn’t concern anyone else right now. I mean, the thing is, I was the only one working with SPR. Everyone else was finishing up high school and managing their own sectors and places amongst the Tricksters.

Besides, I should be using my brain. I don’t want to get complacent.

My search pulled up article after article, and even a Wikipedia page. Oliver Davis was a British citizen who was given an honorary doctorate at Oxford for his numerous ground-breaking papers on parapsychology. He possessed incredible talent with PK as well as a strong grasp on psychometry. By touching something that a person owned, he was able to see into their past and present. It was an incredible talent, and also an incredibly dangerous power.

There was some stuff on Oliver’s early life – being orphaned in America and sent to Japan where he was later adopted by a British couple. He grew up in England and advanced faster through high school than I did. He had an incredible intellect and is actually an author of multiple parapsychology books. Some of which I even remember seeing people in my parapsychology class fawning over. He must really be something in the paranormal research world. I would have to check out those books – from the amount of credit that they’ve been given, they might actually be an interesting read. We shall see.

I didn’t care so much about Oliver Davis’s history as I was too busy trying to find a picture of the teen. He would theoretically be around 17 now, so I could understand why his parents wanted a media blackout, but there had to be a picture _somewhere_. I just couldn’t seem to find anything. It was kind of frustrating.

But my research about Oliver Davis didn’t hit a dead end there, I also found out that he had an identical twin brother. Oliver Davis was known for his incredible PK abilities, but it was his twin brother Eugene Davis that was renowned for his abilities as a ‘perfect medium.’ He was called a perfect medium because whenever he would channel a spirit he would speak in the same language that the spirit spoke. The twins were both incredibly well known and renowned, but their greatest feat was the ability to bounce PK back and forth between each other. It was the only known safe way to use large amounts of PK, as PK puts an incredible strain on the user’s body.

Bouncing PK means that the one with the power will send a small amount to the other person and then that person will amplify this and send it back. This is done until the user has the amount of PK that they require to perform a certain task. By using this method, the twins were able to easily triple Oliver’s record breaking aluminum block throw. It was incredible really. But that wasn’t the thing that I was paying all that much attention to.

I’d finally found an article that had pictures of the twins. It was clearly Naru… but then… what was Naru doing here? And using a fake name at that?

Fuck. This was getting more and more convoluted the more I actually thought about it. Could this be the answer to the dream Naru issue? Dream Naru was inexplicable as far as I know considering I’d been dreaming about him for much longer than I’d known Naru – so was it something psychic? It was something that I’d need to consider.

And if I were to have another dream… I’ll have to ask dream Naru (or I guess he’s called Eugene or Gene) about all of this. There was no guarantee that he would tell the truth, but with Eugene being a medium, it was highly likely that there was _something_ going on here.

But that wasn’t the only thing that I should worry about. If Naru was Oliver Davis, then he had the power of psychometry. There’s no guarantee that he hasn’t already looked into my past, but perhaps I should be a bit more careful with what I let him touch. Any one of my belongings could be my undoing. However, I couldn’t let him know that something was up, because that could break the fragile relationship between the two of us. Things were okay right now and revealing what I knew could possibly break that.

I was going to enter a whole new level of paranoia.

Fun.

* * *

[A Few Days Later…]

“Woah… all of them?” Monk asked incredulously, staring at the tester in front of me.

John just sort of stared at me wide eyed. “To miss that many of them,” he was the only one who knew that I had had dealings with the paranormal world before, so his awe was an educated awe. It was even more embarrassing that John was reacting like this than Monk.

Masako hid her smile behind her kimono sleeve as she giggled softly. “Yes, it’s terribly impressive, Karma.”

“Or something.” Ayako looked just as amused as the girl sitting beside her.

I felt my eyebrow twitch as I stared at the little test in front of me. Never before had I done so awfully at anything _in my life._ How the fuck, did I manage to completely fail this? I don’t understand! My instincts are unparalleled and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have done great on this. This was some stupid psychic test, right? At the very least I should have been able to _one_ of them correctly. But nope. Not a single time had I guessed right.

Naru had had the brilliant (can you feel the sarcasm) idea to test me for psychic powers. He claimed that my intuition could be something more, and that the only way to know would be to test me for any psychic abilities. I fully believe that it’s purely my demonic heritage, but I wasn’t exactly going to reveal that. The test was simple, there was a small box that would light up randomly with 4 corresponding buttons and I’d have to guess which one was next. But in all 1000 trials, I hadn’t gotten a single one correct. Not even close.

“I knew it. Everyone, Karma is a latent psychic.” Woah, those were not the words that I had thought would be escaping Naru’s mouth in this moment.

I stare at him wide eyed. “I am?!” I quickly look around the room to make sure that I’m not hearing things. We were all sitting around a table because Naru had wanted the irregulars here for the experiment. For some unknown reason.

“You’ve attempted to guess which of the bulbs in the box would light up and hit the corresponding button over a thousand times now. To not get one hit is almost a mathematical impossibility. I think it’s clear that this means Karma’s sharp instincts on this case weren’t a coincidence.” Of course they weren’t a coincidence, Naru. They’re highly advanced demonic instincts. I was literally the son of Satan and one of the world’s best assassins. I had to have sharp instincts. I resisted the urge to growl.

“Well I gotta say, I thought he was a rock star a long time ago!” Monk said with a smile. “Remember at the creepy doll house? He fell down the well and had that trippy dream–” I was suddenly reminded of the research I’d conducted and the very real possibility that dream Naru wasn’t simply a figment of my imagination. “–and then when the gas line was on fire, he saw that kid.” He grinned at me teasingly. “You absolutely sure that that wasn’t a spirit?”

“Actually, that could be true. Karma is extraordinarily sensitive when it comes to those with intent to do harm. He has a very natural sense of self-preservation. Much like a wild animal, he can instinctively sniff out prey from foe.” Oh Naru, you do know how to make a guy feel special. It wasn’t the worst thing that I’d been compared to – considering the bench mark was literally the devil.

Ayako smirks and I just know she’s about to make fun of me. “So, although Karma looks ordinary on the outside – well not really, not with that hair and those eyes; are they natural by the way? – inside he’s all jungle cat?” Once again, not the worst thing I’ve been compared to.

“At least it’s not a demon this time,” I grumble under my breath before turning to scowl at Ayako and Masako, who were both laughing. “It’s natural.” I sneer, speaking loud enough for them to hear. “And I’m not the one who lost control in front of everyone. Smooth move.” I hiss, carefully curbing my voice so that only Naru would be able to hear me over the increased sound of the irregulars’ laughter. “We couldn’t breath for a moment, asshat.” He sniffed and glared at me, but there wasn’t much venom behind it. Instead there was an indecipherable look in his eye.

But by this time Monk and the others had finished laughing at me. “Hey Naru, that reminds me. We now know that Karma is psychic and that you suspected as much, so that explains why you kept him around, but if you’re not an onmyoji like we thought, then what was that weird pressure that we felt before you passed out?” Monk asked, wiping his eyes from tears of laughter, suddenly getting serious. Naru’s face acquired a pinched look as Lin suddenly stopped typing and looked up at Naru.

“You need to be more careful,” he ordered, making a comment completely without context and probably only intriguing everyone else. We all looked at Naru curiously. After finishing my research, the ‘Naru is Oliver Davis’ theory was going really strong, so I was suddenly aware of what that aura of power around him meant.

Naru held up his hand. “I know, I promise I’ll keep a lid on it.” He said this in a long-suffering tone. You could tell that him and Lin had had this exchange many many times. “And as for all of you, I don’t believe that it’s any of your business. I just lost control for a moment – nothing to worry about.” He punctuated the end of his sentence with one of the darkest glares that I’d ever seen on his face. That shut the others up real quick.

He stood up abruptly and headed into his office with only a call of “Karma, tea!” thrown over his shoulder. Well that was that.

“I think that it’s best if everyone heads out now. Naru’s in a bad mood and you being here isn’t going to want anyone here ‘lazing around,’” I say, using finger quotations as I begin to clean up the things on the table and head over to the small kitchen to make the boss his tea. There was some hemming and hawing, but inevitably, they all left before I finished brewing a pot of earl grey tea.

I walked into Naru’s office, closing the door behind me, only to see that Naru wasn’t even working. He was just sitting in his chair and staring at the door. He never usually waited for me, so I know that he wanted to talk to me. The tea was a convenient excuse to a. make sure that we were alone, and b. get me in his office without me asking questions. (Wow that sounded bad) Me bringing him tea was just an added bonus. Probably. “Naru?” I asked, placing the tea cup in front of him and sitting down on the extra chair in the corner. “Is there something that you wanted to talk about?”

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. I didn’t have an uncomfortable or uneasy feeling, so it couldn’t be that bad. Maybe he was just going to ask me about the week that I took off. “Karma, where did you get those scars?” Dammit.

I avoid eye contact. “Naru…” I begin, shifting uncomfortably. I was lucky that the others had seemingly forgotten everything that had happened before Naru lost control of his powers, but it seems that Naru himself had not. “Do you really want to know?” I didn’t want to get into this. There were too many secrets around it, and I know that he’ll know if I’m lying.

“As your employer, it is my duty to make sure that your home life is okay.”

It really wasn’t, but I got it. A bit. That doesn’t mean that I want to answer him.

I sigh, supporting my head with my hand as I leaned on the arm of the chair. “My home life wasn’t the greatest. But it’s no longer a problem. There was an incident a year or two ago. That’s where the bad ones came from.” He looked at me for a moment, seemingly trying to figure out if he should say anything else or not.

“Take the rest of the day off.” And then he turned around in his chair and proceeded to ignore me.

I left without further complaint. I had things I could be doing – aka that business report I’d been pushing off for a week and a half now.


	11. File 4 - Part 1

_“Are you ready?” A voice sing-songed from the darkness that surrounded me. I couldn’t see anything but swirling shadows in the oddly claustrophobic space. No matter which way I turned, I just couldn’t find the source of the voice. Everything was just black._

_Then suddenly, a small glowing boy began to appear out of the darkness. He wasn’t moving, and he had his head curled into his knees. He was hiding._

_“Come on, I’m right here. Come and find me.”_

* * *

[December 24]

I hummed to myself grumpily as I pulled a card from my school bag. Ever since Nagisa had told everybody about the fact that I was born on the 25th, everyone had insisted upon making me a card every year. This year, they’d shared that fact with the cram class (I’d dodged it by the fact that Yukio hadn’t mentioned it was our birthday), so I had a small stack of cards and a bag full of poorly wrapped presents. Naru was busy being grumpy in his office, and I’d already filed all the paperwork, so I decided to open the gifts now.

In front of the surveillance cameras.

Like an idiot.

The first small package turned out to be a small set of concealable throwing knives – which I quickly hid on my person as soon as I unwrapped them – from the E Class. Then was a notebook from Kyoya, and some pens from Yukio. The Cram class seemed to have banded together to get me a single blue rose as well as some holy water, the latter of which I placed in a drawer at my desk (you never know when I might need this on a case, even if it burned if it got on me) and the first in which I placed in a vase at the side of my desk. Digging at the bottom of the bag revealed that Nagisa had slipped in the little key ring and chain that I’d asked for.

Finally, just as I was opening the card, the front door opened to reveal Lin and Naru walking into the office. Today was one of those rare days where I arrived before the others, and the two men actually looked shocked. Naru opened his mouth to say something when the card began to loudly blare an awful remix of various Christmas carols and the Happy Birthday song. One glance at the card told me that it was homemade by Class E (I know that I had Itona to blame for the tech behind it and it was probably Maehara who suggested this god-awful mashup – there were even air horn noises thrown in every now and then), and thankfully the noise stopped after a minute.

Naru sat with his mouth open the entire time though, so that noise was at least half worth it for his expression alone. The card had a simple ‘Happy 17th Birthday’ written in delicate calligraphy on the inside (Kanzaki’s work no doubt) along with everybody’s signatures. It was a nice gesture.

“What…” Naru finally managed to say, staring at the card in my hands with distaste. The front (the only part that he could see) had the words ‘Hap Birth’ written on it in some of the derpiest writing I’ve ever seen, so his surprise and disdain was understandable. I glanced between him and the card in my hands before answering with a deadpan.

“It’s my birthday tomorrow, and my friends are assholes.” I offer simply. Naru looks a little constipated, but he accepted it nonetheless.

That’s when the door slammed open to reveal Masako, Monk and Ayako, their arms filled with boxes of what looked to be decorations. “Wow Karma! This place doesn’t look festive at all! For shame!” he crowed as he moved to dump his box on my desk. I sneakily hid the card in the bag and placed it under my desk before any of them could have the chance to see it as I addressed the situation in front of me.

“Well I don’t know about Naru and Lin, but I usually don’t celebrate Christmas. Me and the church, well we’ve never gotten along.” I only half joke as I poke the box.

Ayako looked scandalized, “really? Even the monk celebrates Christmas!”

Monk mock glared at her, “says you!” and then they all began fussing as they threw directions around, hanging them up in various places much to the confusion of us official SPR employees.

“Why are you all here?” Lin asked confused, as he watched everyone fuss over the lack of Christmas tree in the office. “There’s no work at the moment.”

Ayako wrapped an arm around my shoulders, but otherwise didn’t pause in her fussing. “We’re just spending some time with our dearest friends. After all it’s Christmas Eve.”

“What do ya say we throw a little office party?” Monk grinned

Naru frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and looking for the world like a child pouting at not getting his way. “If you’re so desperate to celebrate then find yourself a church. I don’t throw parties in my place of business.” Naru, the eternal party pooper, looked very put out. To be honest I wasn’t feeling all that much better, too busy being overwhelmed by the three spiritualists who had taken over my desk. Seriously, even Masako?

Of course, John then chose to arrive. The gentle priest always had the best of timing. “Let me guess, you’ve come to join the party?” Naru glared over his shoulder – it was easy to see that there was something about this current situation that was really affecting him. Maybe he missed his family (where was Gene?) or just really hated Christmas. Either way, it caused him to lash out at poor John.

John, for his part, looked a little surprised, but luckily, he didn’t look offended. “Uh… no, no! Actually, I came by for something else entirely! I was wondering if you’d be interested in a case.” John awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. “It’s for my local parish?” he said nervously, very very aware of how pissed off Naru seemed to be.

Naru uncrossed his arms, clearly intrigued. To be quite honest, so was I. “A case? On Christmas?” I asked, dumping the armful of decorations that Masako had been burying me under. “Do tell.”

* * *

“Wow! Check this place out, you guys. It’s amazing! Christmas at an actual church! How cool. This sure beats an office party.” Monk joked as we stood in front of a large stone church. It was architecturally beautiful, like the pictures of the churches that you’d see in Old Montreal and Old Quebec. I could admit to myself that it was quite beautiful, but I would never admit that to Monk.

I sigh heavily, shooting a look over at Monk. “We didn’t come here to goof around, Bou-san. And besides, I’ve seen grander.” There was just something about churches that made me feel awkward. It had always been like this for me, whenever we’d pass a church or go to one on a fieldtrip, I’d always feel so out of place. Like I didn’t belong or like I was trespassing. I had always thought it was because I was an atheist and I was internalizing shit, but now I’m more inclined to believe that it’s due to my parentage. Was the literal devil spawn welcome at the church? Well that depends on the priest you talk to.

Either way, that out of place feeling combined with the last time I was in a church had me a bit on edge. Something was going to happen on this case, and I had a feeling that I wouldn’t like it all that much.

Monk pouted. “I know we’re here to work, I’m just excited. Also, you’ve seen a church?” Monk asked, half joking and half dead serious. “When would _you_ get the chance to see a church, Mr. Dark and Gloomy. The only ones who wear more black than you are Lin and Naru. Is it an official SPR thing?” That idiot.

“No, it’s not – black just happens to be sensible. And I wear colours!” I say indignantly. “Also, I’ll have you know that I grew up in a church!” Well… for the first 6 years of my life. Technically. I guess. It wasn’t a _complete_ lie. I feel like I’m being judged. I don’t like it.

Ayako’s eyes widened as she looked at me. “You grew up in a church? I didn’t take you for a catholic.”

I roll my eyes at her, sticking my tongue out playfully. “I’m not. I’m an atheist, my… guardian was heavily religious though.” I do get that it’s a little weird to consider myself an atheist considering the fact that I’m an exorcist due to being the son of Satan and I am currently working as a ghost hunter, but it is what it is. I don’t believe in a god of any kind.

“This is fantastic.” Masako said, smiling as she looked at the church. “There’s nothing better than celebrating Christmas at a church.” Apparently, Masako being happy with the circumstances is where Naru calls it a quits because he was quick to interject in the happy feelings being passed around.

“Look, we have a job to do–”

“That’s why we’re here; to work.” Masako cut him off. “But you have to admit it is tough working on a holiday.” Ugh, I mean _I guess._ I’ll definitely be calling in sick on the anniversary of Korosensei’s death.

Monk leaned down to rest a hand on John’s shoulder. “We’re going to have to try and wrap this up quick today. There’s a party later on and you _will_ be there.”

“Great. Sounds fun.” John looked very awkward. The poor guy. Probably wasn’t used to all the attention. Naru on the other hand, looked even more annoyed with all of us. Seeing this, John lead us in through the gate, walking towards the large entrance where another man stood. He looked much older, and much more dignified than any of us. He just seemed to ooze wisdom. Now this is what a priest should look like – not like whatever Father Fujimoto was attempting.

Once we were within earshot, the man greeted us. “Ah, Father Brown.” He said, a soft smile curling the corners of his mouth.

“G’day, Father.” John answered in return, smiling brightly at the elderly man.

“I appreciate you coming by,” the old man smiled, not a trace of malintent in his posture or voice. The man honestly just seemed to be a nice older man. He was around my height, coming just low enough that Naru still had to look down to meet the man’s eyes.

“Now Kazuya, I’d like you to meet the pastor of the church; Father Tojo.” John said brightly, gesturing towards the other priest beside him before introducing Naru to the priest as well. “And Father, this is my associate, head of Shibuya Psychic Research, Shibuya Kazuya-san.”

The priest smiled and bowed his head in greeting. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” Naru bowed in return with the same depth to his bow. We all walked up a bit farther to stand behind Naru, allowing us to get a good look at the church. I was talking out of my ass when I said that I’d seen grander, because this church was enormous. There were giant detailed statues everywhere and it looked to be well maintained too.

Suddenly our attention was grabbed by the sound of children laughing. All around the school yard was small children playing around various small structures and a large sandbox. “You see that? There’s a kid for about every country in the world on that playground.” Monk pointed out to me, his voice tinged with awe. It was true too, no two kids looked alike and there were kids of all ages there too. They were laughing, swinging on swing sets and playing on structures.

Seeing us watching the kids, John explained. “Father Tojo helps run a daycare out of the church for parents who work here in the city. The majority of these children are foreigners, who’s parents are over here on work visas. The rest of the kids are either orphans or those awaiting placement in a foster home. They really love it here, as you can see.” He beamed as we all watched the kids run around. My smile was a little pinched though.

“How nice.” I say, hoping that it hides how stiff I am. I know I shouldn’t feel bitter, but I still did either way. I was an orphan too, and I understood what it was like, you know, growing up in a church. I don’t have many memories of the monastery that Father Fujimoto ran (due to me suppressing all of them), but I know that it was much different than this. To start with, there had only been two children; myself and Yukio. The monastery had also been much older and completely wooden. Then Father Fujimoto had abandoned me at an orphanage that wasn’t exactly legal or all that nice. I would’ve given anything at the time to spend even a night somewhere like here.

There was a thunderous sound of footsteps and our attention was once more dragged over to the noise. Some of the children had finally noticed our presence and had rushed over to crowd around Masako. “Wow! I’ve seen you on TV. You’re that psychic!” One of the children said in awe as they stared at her. Masako actually gave an honest smile to the children as she looked down at them.

“Oh, hello children!” she said softly, smiling behind her kimono sleeve. She wasn’t overwhelmed yet, and I totally gave her points for that because there were _so_ many children _oh my gosh._

“Come on! Why don’t you talk to the spirits for us, huh?” Another child yelled, “I wanna see a spirit!” the other children were quick to join in with their agreement to their comrade’s request. Masako was still smiling, but she looked a little overwhelmed by the amount of requests she was getting, so I decided to be nice and step in.

I ruffled one of the nearest kid’s hair before turning to address all of them. “It’s not that easy, kids, so maybe some other time, okay?” I smiled without showing too much of my teeth. I was suddenly hyper aware of my more demonic features – I hope they won’t be a problem. My hair pretty much hides my ears (only the cross piercings being visible) and I’ve got my tail wrapped around my upper body underneath a sweater. But the teeth were something that I couldn’t exactly hide. It wasn’t too odd for a human to have slightly longer incisors, but it wasn’t exactly normal either. Combine that with my odd colouring and you have yourself a suspicion.

“Settle down, children. Settle down.” The priest ordered gently coming over to help us with the crowd of kids that had surrounded me, Masako and surprisingly Ayako. He turned to smile apologetically at the medium. “I’m so sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.” Masako laughed, enjoying the pure joy that the kids seemed to exude. It was something of a luxury for people in our field, considering most of the clients and ghosts that we have to deal with are often sitting in the other side of the emotional spectrum. This much positivity must be a pleasant surprise.

Ayako rested her chin on her hand as she too laughed at the children around us. “I think I’d be worried if the kids weren’t so excited, you know?” The kids were still whispering to each other quietly and staring up at all of us in awe. Some even pointed at my hair and I winked at them when I caught them, sending them into another wave of giggles.

“You have a point there.” Masako admitted, for once not being her normal bitchy self. Must be the ‘magic of Christmas’ I’ve been hearing so much about. I just nodded in return, I knew how kids could be.

“While Father Tojo briefs us on the details of the case, I’ll need the rest of you to play babysitter with the children until we return.” Naru said suddenly, breaking me out of my state of contentment. I shot him a glare, there was no way that I was playing with these kids. Nope, kids didn’t like me – they never have, and I doubt that they ever will. Kids have a fine sense of danger, and I knew that I set off every instinct that they had. If Naru forced me to watch them then it was not going to end well.

The others, apparently had no such reservations. “Alright! Who’s ready to have some fun on the swing set with Takigawa!” Monk yelled suddenly, springing up behind Ayako and Masako. This exclamation caused all the children to immediately start yelling and cheering, much to Ayako’s chagrin.

“Monk, you’re just riling them up,” I scolded before shooting an expectant look at Naru. He sighed heavily but nodded and tilted his head to the side, signally that he would allow me to come along to hear about the case. It probably had something to do with the possibility of me having insight due to a. growing up in a church, and b. being a latent psychic. I didn’t really care about the why, all that mattered to me was the fact that I wasn’t going to be forced to play with children. I happily disentangled myself from the mass of small children and moved over to stand on Naru’s left.

The others didn’t much notice though, so that was great. “Follow me!” Monk cheered, leading a group of children trailing after him like baby ducklings, over to the swing set. Another group of kids were dragging Masako by her kimono sleeves, and yet _another_ group of kids were giving the same treatment to the miko.

After watching for a moment to make sure that the three of them could handle the swarm of kids, Father Tojo lead the four of us into the church. Immediately upon crossing the threshold I felt off. It was like that uncomfortable feeling that you get when walking into a high school cafeteria. Everything felt slightly off, and it felt like something was watching you. It was unsettling to say the least, but I made a valiant effort to hide my discomfort from everyone.

John knew that my brother was Okumura Yukio, but what wasn’t well known was that he was a son of Satan. I didn’t know just how much Father Tojo knew (those who knew of the Paladin that was named about 3 years ago, knew of the fact that he was half demon), but I didn’t want him to recognize me for what I am. I’m not exactly all that ordinary in appearance. Either way, I wanted to keep as much about my heritage a secret as possible. I’ve already been down the discovery avenue, and I was lucky that it worked out the way that it did.

Naru was perceptive though, and I had no doubt that he knew that the church made me on edge. Hopefully he just thought that it was something about the case or bad memories.

Father Tojo lead us into a small sitting area where we sat down facing each other, the priests on one side and us on the other of a small coffee table. “Now gentlemen, every so often, unexplainable things will happen here at the church.” Father Tojo began to explain, “this morning one of the children started behaving erratically, at which point I telephoned Father Brown, and he suggested that I contact you right away.”

“You know the kids from earlier? The ones in the daycare? Like clockwork, every couple of weeks one of them will become possessed by a spirit.” John broke in, taking over the explanation. “I’ve exorcised spirits from them a number of times.”

Naru crossed his arms, leaning back slightly into his seat. He narrowed his eyes slightly. “But you’re saying no matter what the possessions reoccur.”

“That’s right.”

Here is where in any other circumstance, I would intervene and ask some questions about the case. However, I was not going to do that now. I didn’t like this situation and I didn’t want to draw any more attention to myself than necessary; while they didn’t notice me, I was safe from suspicion.

“However, the possessions never seem to do any permanent harm to the child. They just behave like a completely different person, and they’re all obsessed with hiding.” Father Tojo said solemnly.

_Come and find me._

Naru looked up, an odd look in his eyes. “They’re hiding?” he asked, intrigued.

Father Tojo nodded. “Whichever child is possessed will always play a game we call ‘stick.’”

“It’s called ‘stick’?” Naru raised an eyebrow.

“Stick is essentially hide and seek, but instead of shouting the kids will beat a wooden stick against something. One hit means they’re not ready yet and more than one hit means they’ve found their hiding place.” Almost as if on cue, there was a distinct echoing tap emitting from the woods. My head whipped around to the window as I tried to locate where the sound came from. The thing is, the sound seemed to be coming from everywhere, which was almost unheard of to me. It was even more unsettling than being in the church. A moment of two later, Father Tojo also looked up and seemed to be able to hear the tapping as well. “I’m afraid Thanad is hiding again.”

Naru wasn’t impressed, shooting me a look, but I didn’t bother to look away. The sound had originally come from the woods. I think. “What’s that noise.” Naru demanded.

“It’s the sound of the stick. The boy that was behaving strangely this morning must be in the forest somewhere.” The priest looked really worried as he followed my gaze out the window. No matter how frequent the possessions were, it must still be terrifying to have a kid disappear in the woods of all places. Just think of all the different ways the kid could get themselves killed.

“We should all split up and find him.” Naru decided as he moved to stand up, Lin and I quickly flanking him. We immediately rushed outside, not waiting for John or Father Tojo to catch up with us and instead running out of the church and into the playground. The children had all frozen in their spots and were staring at the woods.

“What the–” Monk asked in confusion as he looked at all the children’s reactions. “Do you hear that?” The children all had a solemn long-suffering look as they all gazed at the woods.

“Is something wrong?” Masako asked softly as she looked at the solemn group of kids that stood around her.

“That must be Thanad.” One of the kids announced.

Ayako looked at the kid oddly. “What is he doing?”

“He’s been hiding in the forest since this morning.” A small girl told the priestess. “I just hope he’s alright.” The tapping continues to echo around in the air, and it grates on my nerves. Kind of like a high-pitched buzzing that just sets you on edge and makes you grind your teeth. Seeing that Naru was a little busy observing the children’s reactions to the noise, I ran out to the woods, careening around the side of the church as I began to follow the origin of the noise to my best abilities. I run around for a little bit, before finally catching sight of a small child hiding in a little alcove thing. He was hitting the ground with a small stick, the sound echoing off the walls.

“So, this is where you’ve been.” I find myself saying as the kid just keeps on tapping. I begin to move toward the kid, but then there’s a thunder of footsteps behind me. I turn around to see that Naru, Lin, John, and Father Tojo had come running after me, but due to my speed arrived a bit later.

Naru was glaring, but there was a tinge of worry in his voice. “Karma, are you okay?” he asks sharply, his voice low as he looked past me and saw the child that I had found. Before I could respond, the boy turned around and actually reacted to our presence. Well, uh, more like Lin’s presence. As soon as the kid laid eyes on him, he dropped his stick and ran towards the Chinese man. He threw his arms around Lin’s legs, all the while laughing happily.

“Daddy it’s you!” the kid cries happily, while Lin sorta just throws his arms in the air and looks a mix of shocked and absolutely terrified. Father Tojo looked horrified while both John and Naru’s eyes widened slightly. Well John’s eyes went as wide as saucers. He looked like a startled cat. Naru’s shock was more of a ‘what the fuck’ face than anything. Embarrassingly, my reaction was more similar to John’s than Naru’s.

“What did he say?” John asked us, the shock and surprise in his voice very apparent. The child just continued to laugh. No one really knew how to respond to this situation – least of all Lin. The poor guy never struck me as a people person, much less someone who was good with kids. I had no doubt that he was _this_ close to yanking the child’s arms from around his legs. He looked like he wanted to run away.

I shifted awkwardly, looking between Naru and Lin. “Let’s head back to the church, get the children inside. It’s rather chilly out.” I say a bit breathlessly. Father Tojo nods, and we all slowly but surely make our way back to the front of the church where Monk, Ayako and Masako were still watching the children. Lin had more difficulty, since he was practically dragging the possessed child alongside him.

* * *

Lin had the most long-suffering look on his face that I’d ever seen, and it was taking all of my willpower to not laugh at the tall man. He was sitting on the floor and stiffly holding a robot toy stiffly while the possessed child – Thanad – used another robot toy to ‘fight’. It was incredibly amusing to see this.

We had managed to round up the children into the church, and they were all playing with various boxes of toys, no longer solemn as Thanad had been found. In fact, they were quite loud, and I was beginning to regret not bringing ear plugs. This is why I don’t get along all that well with children. We were all just standing by the wall in a line as we watched Lin play with the boy. We sat in a sort of stunned silence – Monk’s dumbfounded look was particularly amusing.

“He really likes Lin.” Masako says quietly, her eyes round with wonder. To be completely honest, I was still surprised that Lin was putting up with this.

Ayako raised an eyebrow, but her shock was still very apparent. “Well at least somebody does.” I resent that, I don’t mind Lin. Even if the feeling isn’t all that mutual.

Father Tojo, seeing Lin’s frustration moved forwards to try and intervene. Lin wasn’t even playing with the kid anymore, he was as still as a stone statue. “Uh… come over here for a second.” The priest offered quietly, but it didn’t have the desired effect. Instead of moving away from the irate onmyoji, the child cowered away from the priest and proceeded to hide behind Lin’s frame.

“It appears as if he’s mistaken me for his father.” Lin glanced at the boy who was clutching his arm with a death grip. “Would you mind telling me the truth?” Lin was not holding back. He looked pissed, and poor old Father Tojo seemed to gain years of age as he slumped slightly.

“The funny thing is, you bear an uncanny resemblance in looks to Kenji’s father.” Father Tojo said, a small sad smile beginning to grow on his face. Lin’s eyes widened imperceptibly before he glanced back down at Thanad. Thanad only laughed now that his ‘father’s’ attention was back on him and then began to drag Lin over to the toys, much to the man’s chagrin. 

“Who’s Kenji?” I was sure that we’d been told this… I must not have been paying enough attention. Or maybe he said something when I ran off to find the source of the tapping noise. Monk, Ayako, and Masako quickly turned to look at Naru expectantly.

Naru crossed his arms and leaned back slightly on the wall as he watched his assistant be dragged away by a child. He went willingly, albeit reluctantly. “According to Father Tojo, there used to be a boy here named Kenji. One day he disappeared.” Naru explained, for once not making fun of me asking a question. “Shortly after that, the possessions started occurring.” Nope. I just hadn’t been paying attention apparently. Good grief, maybe it happened when I was making tea? I don’t even know.

We just continued to watch Lin be glomped by the kid. Father Tojo had tried to separate the two, but if we anger the spirit that could potentially do quite a bit of harm to both the host and us.

“Hello! You must have gotten a chill while you were outside. I made some of my famous hot tea for everyone. Would you all care for some?” I nearly jumped as a voice came from right behind me. There was a woman holding a tray full of steaming mugs of tea. She was wearing an apron and had her hair back, so I would assume that she volunteered here at the church. She had one of those smiles that forced your eyes shut, so I couldn’t really get that good of a read on her. Her body language was open and friendly, but without seeing the eyes I could never be sure.

These catholic types were always good at hiding when they didn’t like you. It made me nervous. I couldn’t trust that they hadn’t figure things out yet, even if the chance that they had was tiny. “That sounds wonderful ma’am, but I’m afraid that I’ll have to decline.” I say politely smiling at the woman. I wouldn’t put it past them to put holy water in it or something. “But I’m sure that my colleagues would love to try your tea. I’m afraid that I have some allergies to certain types of tea. You can never be too careful!” The woman laughs good-naturedly before leading us over to some benches to sit on and offering the others the tea.

Naru also, politely declined, which didn’t escape my notice. Although, he did look at me oddly when I did, since he knew that I’d drink pretty much any kind of tea that I found in the office cupboards. A month or so ago, Naru had gone through a phase of trying different teas. He wanted to see how I made them or something, even if earl grey would always be his favourite.

Masako delicately sipped her tea. “Thank you very much, the tea is lovely.” The others were quick to exchange pleasantries as well, while I turned to Naru.

“So, what do we know about this Kenji?” I ask, folding my hands in my lap awkwardly and resisting the urge to fiddle with one of the knives I had on my body.

Naru turned to look at Father Tojo, not really answering my question but not entirely ignoring it either. “Actually Father, didn’t you mention that this time of year holds some significance to the phenomenon? Kenji first arrived at your church around the same time.”

“That’s right.” Father Tojo nodded. “It was a week before the church moved into this building from another location in the city, about 30 years ago.” Shit. This had been going on for a while – what changed?

“You said Kenji was originally brought here by his father. But even though he promised to return for his boy the following Christmas, the man vanished without a trace. It was apparent from the start that Kenji suffered a mental disorder which left him unable to speak like a normal child.” Naru said, his voice taking on a slightly softer tone as he told the boy’s story. 

“Unfortunate.” I remark, getting a look shot at me by Ayako. What? That wasn’t mean to be insensitive or anything. “When that boy saw Lin earlier, he called him ‘daddy’. Wouldn’t that mean that Kenji is able to talk?” It was a legitimate question. Maybe the boy wasn’t completely mute.

“He must have had strong feelings for his dad to notice him through another body.” Monk remarked as he placed his empty mug on a coaster.

Ayako wrapped her hands around the mug, looking down sadly. “I bet that was why he was able to speak up when he saw Lin.” Her face was oddly somber, it was obvious that she pitied Kenji. “It must have been overwhelming after such a long time.” 30 years was an awfully long time, especially to someone who would still have the mentality of a child. It must have felt like eternity.

“Although he may not have been able to speak like the others, he was happy and playful. All of the other kids took a liking to him immediately.” The volunteer informed us, smiling brightly, although it faltered slightly as she remembered why exactly we were talking about Kenji.

Naru nodded, leaning back against the couch. “They even crafted playground games to include Kenji, such as the hide and seek game called ‘stick’.

The older priest laughed lightly. “At that time the parish was in its infancy, and the building itself under construction. But the children were so happy to be getting a new home, they just chose to play around the construction.” Not a smooth move. That’s dangerous as all hell and the kids wouldn’t have had any protective gear at all. Children are delicate after all. “They actually found it to be quite exciting.”

“Apparently Kenji was very fond of this game and played it quite often.” Naru added. “Would you say that’s true?” he asked the volunteer woman. I suddenly felt incredibly awkward. I didn’t know what to do with my hands, and everyone save Naru, had a mug of tea to hide behind.

“Oh yes. Kenji was known around the playground for being the best at hiding. The other kids would call him the ‘master of stick.’ Even now I can still see the big smile on his face and he snuck out from whatever place he was hiding. He was so proud that no one was able to find him.” The air of nostalgia around her was strong.

“Later for his birthday, Father Tojo gave him a whistle on a string to wear around his neck. He then replaced the stick for the whistle while playing the game.” Naru agreed. Father Tojo nodded, looking incredibly sad as he got lost in a memory. It’s nice though, they seem to have been incredibly accommodating to someone with Kenji’s issues. Not every church would be so open to that type of thing. “Unfortunately, not long afterwards, Kenji went missing.” Whoop, there it is. “This was at a time where the church’s construction was nearly complete, and the children were looking forward to having their first Christmas in their new house.”

“It was raining rather heavily so the kids went inside, but Kenji never resurfaced from his hiding spot. Father Tojo and the other’s looked for him, but all they found was collapsed scaffolding. After four hours of intense searching, no one ever found a trace of Kenji.” Naru closed his eyes in order to hide the hints of sorrow that peaked through in his words. No one ever liked to hear about how a child went missing and then was never found again.

“And then?”

“The next day, the staff began a broader search for Kenji. They found a whistle similar to the one he wore next to the storm shed behind the church.” Well that wasn’t what I was expecting.

“They found it behind the church?” I asked in disbelief. It’s just… there was theoretically only so many places for Kenji to have gone. How has he not been found yet?

John looked up, his eyes filled with the same sorrow that I saw reflected in everyone’s eyes. “There’s an aqueduct that runs east to west back there.” He admitted, lowering his mug to his lap. “It’s quite deep, and at the time, they hadn’t erected the fence that is there now.” I vaguely remember seeing the aqueduct when I was looking for the kid that was possessed. It didn’t look that deep, but with the water being as murky as it is, it’s hard to tell. Though, the fence that was there now still didn’t look like it would do all that much anyways.

Ayako turned to stare wide eyed at John. “So, you believe he fell into the aqueduct?”

“I do.” John said seriously, gazing somberly into the mug of tea in his lap. “The police did an extensive search between the church and the river that the aqueduct feeds into, but they never found a single piece of evidence.”

Masako raised her kimono sleeve to cover her mouth as her eyes watered. “So, the police could never find the body. Poor child, that’s horrible.” 30 years was an awfully long time, and it would be infinitely longer to someone who still has the mentality of a child. The poor kid was abandoned and then never found – imagine what that can do to a kid. It’s a wonder that Kenji hasn’t done anything to hurt the kids that he’s possessed yet.

“Were those sounds we heard earlier today from Kenji? Is it possible that he could still be playing hide and go seek? Like… he’s trying to get us to find him? Maybe the kid could lead us to where he is hiding.” If the kid was still playing hide and go seek even 30 years later… he wants to be found. He might not be aware that he’s dead, but, isn’t he still waiting for his dad? Just look at how happy he was when he thought he found his father.

It’s probably the saddest that I’ve ever seen – and I’ve seen a lot.

Naru sighed heavily. “Anything is possible, Karma.” I mean yeah, but he should get what I mean. Just because I didn’t word it _exactly right_ doesn’t mean that my point isn’t conveyed. Sure, it might not be conveyed in the right way.

“I wonder… if he’s still out there because he lost his whistle so long ago. It’s like he’s begging to be found.” I murmur almost to myself. Maybe if I make it seem like an absentminded thought they might be more inclined to listen? They believe in my intuition (well at least Naru does, and by that extension so does Lin) more than me adamantly arguing a theory. 

“It doesn’t sound like there’s any danger…” Monk said, trailing off as he stared at the table. It was like he was trying to burn a hole through it with will power alone due to the intensity of his gaze. He was clearly puzzled but he was trying to figure something out and almost at the brink of making a break.

Lucky for him, Naru was always on the ball and ready to finish someone else’s thoughts with the conclusion that they needed. “But there is the possibility that this could escalate into something bigger.

“Are you saying this could maybe turn into something worse?” Naru just nodded. “I don’t know. From what I’ve heard so far, this seems to be an innocent haunting because Kenji didn’t have the temperament while alive to do this, and in the past 30 years the only things to occur during a possession are games of hide and seek. I’m betting that he just wants someone to find him. Really find him.”

“Yeah, but no matter how many times I drive him out he always comes back.” John protests weakly. He can see my point. “Plus, from what Father Tojo has told us, lately, Kenji has been appearing a lot more frequently than he used to, which can be a sign for the worst.” He also had a point. However, mine still stands. He might be escalating, but we can fix this by satisfying his wish to be found. All we have to do is find his body, right?

“The possessions are changing.” Monk agreed, grimacing.

I frowned. “What do you mean?

“When you hear people say that the spirit of their ancestors are haunting them, do you think a spirit would knowingly do something horrific to their own family? Well, sometimes that’s the case.” Monk said grimly. “My point is that dead people who are left to wander tend to change over time.” I wince, remembering exactly how much Mary had changed from all those years ago. “Though change isn’t the right word. Think of it as they absorbed the thoughts of those around them and were altered in the process.

I look up sharply; we haven’t covered any of this stuff in parapsychology yet. “So wait, you’re saying spirits can be influenced by the actions of humans?” I clarify, no doubt having a gleam of excitement in my eyes at the prospect of new information. The SPR irregulars had learned quickly that I loved to ask questions and learn shit. That’s part of the reason that they tried to explain what they knew. They knew that I appreciated it even if it made me look a bit ignorant.

Monk made a face, “that’s one way of putting it. Otherwise they become too attached to something on earth and would just end up embodying the thing they left behind.”

“That means even though Kenji might have been good while he was alive, he may not be necessarily so nice in the afterlife.”

“That’s pretty much it.”

I frowned looking up at Naru. “So, what do you want us to do now?”

“That’s simple. We just got to start looking for him.” Naru looked up, “now let’s get to work.”

* * *

We did our best to quietly make out way back to the room filled with children only to stand and stare at Lin again. “It’s so odd.” John whispered. To be quite frank, none of us can really wrap our heads around Lin playing with a child.

Monk very visibly suppressed a chuckle but ultimately failed to hide the amusement in his voice. “Well that’s an understatement. 

I couldn’t resist being a little shit. This was the perfect opportunity. “You know? It kinda looks like Lin would make a good dad.”

That’s when our attention was drawn to Ayako who was confidently holding up a video camera so that it was recording Lin’s interactions with the possessed kid. “You’re filming?” Masako asked curiously.

“Strange scenes like this need to be immortalized on tape.”

John decided to bravely forge on ahead with the case. “Usually, Kenji will emerge from the child after playing a game of hide and seek.” John informs us, looking on at the scene in front of us with worry. This possession had already deviated from the script, and with our presence, things were sure to become different that much faster. Not a good thing when there’s a possibility that the spirit could become hostile. For example, if Lin loses his shit and rejects the kid, bad things could happen.

“Maybe he feels more secure thinking his father is around?” I offer.

Naru glared at Ayako before softening his gaze and focusing his attention on the Australian priest. “One thing’s for sure. Shooting a video isn’t going to help. John, let’s see if you can drive him out.”

John nodded with a determined look in his eyes. “Okay.”

“All of the curtains in the room are closed.” I announce as I begin to make my way to a spot alongside the wall. Everyone was here to watch the exorcism, standing alongside the walls of the room so as to not get in the way. Somehow, I found myself standing next to Father Tojo.

Naru nodded at me before turning to John. “You ready John?” Naru asked quietly.

“Yes.” John said equally as softly before making his way over to Thanad, who was still clutching Lin’s coat tightly. They were standing across the room from us, because the possessed boy was scared. John quickly drew a cross on the boy’s head before beginning his exorcism. “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name…” he continued to read from the bible and I shifted uncomfortably, moving from foot to foot almost subconsciously.

I turn to my other side to look at Monk. I very nearly shrank into his side as the exorcism continued, but I managed to only shift over to him slightly before catching myself. Hopefully Father Tojo didn’t notice anything wrong – I was being rather obvious. “I feel bad for Kenji,” I begin suddenly, trying to hide my nerves and discomfort with words. “He just looked so happy thinking he was with his father.” Gosh Karma, _shut up_. Father’s and abandonment issues are not what I want to be talking about right now. “Now he’s about to feel all alone again.”

Monk looked at me oddly. “Yeah, but for Kenji to stay happy, Thanad has to stay possessed. It’s not fair to him.”

“I never said that anything about this was fair. If life was fair, then Kenji wouldn’t have been abandoned.” I snap, my nerves getting the better of me. I sigh heavily, “I know but–”

And then John finishes his exorcism before I can finish my thought. “May God have mercy on your soul.” There was a visible reaction after John finished the incantation. Thanad’s eyes widened aggressively before his entire frame suddenly relaxed and the unnatural happiness was gone, leaving behind what I can only assume is all Thanad. The boy stands for another second before his eyes begin to droop and then he’s falling down to the ground, Lin barely catching him in time for him to not crack his head open. “It’s alright, he’s no longer possessed.” John says after a moment of examining the sleeping boy.

Everyone let’s out a sigh of relief – Naru even almost cracked a smile. But then things began to go wrong.

 _Father_.

The lights flickered on an off spontaneously, and I felt a severe chill right behind me at the boy’s cry. “What’s that?” Monk demanded harshly.

“Can you… feel it?” Ayako’s voice was distant, I almost couldn’t hear it at all. Instead, all I could do was stare off into the distance at Lin and Thanad. I was frozen; I couldn’t even so much as twitch. In an act of desperation, I tried to reach for my flames, but the strange cold had seemed to have robbed me of that ability as well.

The lights continued to flicker alongside an odd sound. “Those are not good sounds.” It sounded like the power was shorting out, but it obviously wasn’t. On and off, the lights flickered, throwing the room into darkness every few seconds. I felt a great shove from behind me as the lights finally stopped their flickering and settled on darkness.

There was an audible thunk as my body connected with the ground and I did my best to rise to my feet quickly. I didn’t want to be the target of this ghost dammit. “Are you alright, Karma?” Monk as suddenly from behind me. Everyone else was looking around, so I turned back to look at him, ready with a response. But that response never came, because I was too busy staring at the ground beside Monk’s feet.

There beside his feet, was me. Well my body at least. It was slumped over in a sitting position, not unlike the one that I thought I had fallen in. The biggest problem with this situation is that I was staring at my own body, meaning that I wasn’t in my body or somehow Kenji managed to clone me. I’m going with the former, because a quick glance at my hands shows that my body is almost transparent. It reminds me an awful lot of how everything looks in my dreams. This… wasn’t good. It only spells trouble. _Monk!_ I tried to call out desperately. _I’m here! Can you hear me?_ But even I couldn’t hear me. It was like my voice had been stolen.

I didn’t dare reach out to touch anyone though.

“How do you feel, Thanad?” John asked gently, turning to the boy that was now regaining consciousness in Lin’s arms. I’m sure I would care more, if my body wasn’t currently slumped by the wall without me. The kid begins to talk, but I’m no longer paying attention to him because John seems to have a good handle on him. Besides, I currently can’t speak or be seen, so I doubt that me paying Thanad attention would do any good.

Nope. I had a much bigger problem than Thanad. My body was currently beginning to _move without my consent._ Fuck, Kenji must have booted me out, because he’d focused his eyes right on Lin. Kenji stood up, wobbling slightly but soon figured out my weird balance (think of it like fighting with a handicap since I use my tail sort of like a balancing thing; with it wrapped around my waist, it’s like having your ears plugged and trying to walk: not impossible but a bit more difficult) and then he was running across the room before anyone else could even notice.

Then he was latched onto Lin’s arm.

Naru’s eyes widened as everyone else looked shocked. Lin stared down at me, easily showing the most emotions that I’d ever seen him show. “Karma, what are you doing?” Kenji looked up at Lin and then twisted my features into a bright childlike smile. I’ve never made that face before in my life, and a smile that childlike looked completely out of place. It didn’t help that he bared my fangs to the world while making that facial expression.

It was in that moment that I saw everyone else _get it_.

“What? No way!” Monk gasped in shock as the SPR team stared at Kenji in my body latching himself onto Lin. Kenji was making me look ridiculous, and with the way he’s moving my body, either my hidden weapons or my fucking tail is going to be revealed. I’m lucky that I’m wearing a thick sweatshirt because I can see my tail shifting. “I think Kenji just possessed Karma!”


	12. File 4 - Part 2

[December 24]

“I think Kenji just possessed Karma!”

No shit asshole.

Naru’s eyes hardened as he looked at the… situation in front of him. Father Tojo had turned the lights back on and ushered Thanad out of the room and into the care of the volunteer woman. “The exorcism on Thanad worked but it looks like…” John’s face did a thing as he stared at me with a cross between complete bewilderment and horror.

“Like we have our work cut out for us, that’s what it looks like.” Monk grumbled, still stunned by what just happened. Lin was looking 217% done with what kept happening to him – and I really couldn’t blame him. I knew that my body was strong and not exactly all that light, and Kenji had just draped himself all over Lin like Kenji was a blanket. Lin, who didn’t seem to like me on a good day now had to deal with a child taking over my body while already incredibly annoyed.

Could he feel my tail?!

“Don’t just stand there, John. Do something about it!” Lin said desperately, looking rather pitiful, sitting on the floor and doing everything in his power to touch as little of me as possible. Kenji was making that very difficult.

John just looked confused. “Sorry, I didn’t see that coming.” He was staring at my body with such a kicked puppy look that I almost wanted to go and comfort him. But then I remembered the predicament that I am now stuck in and I thought better of it.

Then _Naru_ chose to be an asshole. “Why don’t you keep him company for a while, _dad_.” There was a small smirk on his lips, but it was hidden well by the angle of his head. Only Lin and I were able to see it. Lin looked _pissed_. He was really not happy with Naru right now – like this tops the time that Lin found out Naru lost control of his powers. Naru turned before whispering to the others. “Let’s go somewhere where we can have this discussion in private.” He hissed quietly before stalking out of the room along with the others.

I was honestly torn, I didn’t know who I should follow. On the one hand, if I followed Naru I could find out what they’re planning on doing. On the other hand, Kenji wouldn’t know what to do about my tail and could potentially reveal me to everyone in this church – and if Lin found out, I had no doubt that he would tell Naru. I would have to play my move earlier than I’d like to.

After a long moment of debating, I finally decided to follow Naru. There wouldn’t be much that I could do to control Kenji. Fuck. I’d have to probe Lin later to see if he knew anything. _Fuck_.

“John, has this happened before?” Naru is saying as I dash into the room. The door was closed, and it turns out that I could indeed walk through walls at the moment. _Not a reassuring thing._ Ayako, Masako, and Father Tojo had taken the children outside to play, while Monk, John and Naru went to another room to talk.

“Oh no, of all the exorcisms I’ve done here, I’ve never seen him possess another child so quickly.” John assured Naru, looking dead serious. For my part, I resent that comment. I am not a child, thank you very much.

“And the knocking sounds?”

“This is the first time.” John confirms once more.

All three of them are standing at the window and looking down on the playground. Monk was leaning against the wall and looking to be the closest to brooding that I’ve ever seen him. “The fact that Kenji’s never done this before is troubling to say the least.”

“You had said the possessions were becoming more frequent. Is that all?” Naru, meanwhile, was full on brooding. Like he had his chin pinched between his thumb and forefinger and everything. Even the stormy expression was a grade above what it usually was.

“The amount of time that the kids spent hiding is increasing as well. That’s what Father Tojo told me. A year or two ago, they might have had one or two possessions a year, but now they’re getting that many a week. Father Tojo was scared that if this were to continue another child might go missing.” John admitted. “In the past when I would remove Kenji from a child, he wouldn’t put up any resistance. This time was different. It was an unpleasant feeling.”

“What do you believe would happen if you drove him out again.” Naru’s voice was low and dangerous. Something I’d only heard a couple of times before. It wasn’t something that he made a habit of. His fear inducing qualities were usually limited to cold detachment. He was scary in the way that a doctor who is performing an experiment on you would be. But now with his aura swirling around him, he actually felt similar to Korosensei.

“I don’t know. If I were to guess, I’d say that he’d try to possess another nearby child.” John told Naru. He looked uncertain and serious. I’d seen these three take cases seriously, but for some reason there was a different look in “But I’m certain that Kenji would become even angrier than he already is. I don’t know what he’s going to do now, but I don’t want to risk hurting Karma any further than he might be. A forceful possession can be taxing on the body, and Karma’s injury prone… as we’ve seen.” John’s voice had pattered out near the end as he got a worried look in his eyes.

This look was mirrored by hard gazes in both Monk and Naru’s eyes. They were thinking about my scars. _Fuck._ This day just keeps getting better and better.

“I agree.”

I moved forwards to stand beside Naru for a moment, willing him to see me. _I’m fine, Naru. Just focus on finding Kenji so that this can be over already._ But as always, he didn’t hear me. None of them could – not even Masako. Then again, if she could see me, would she say anything? She was finicky like that, but it _was_ Christmas and I was hoping that her animosity would… mellow out. She seemed to like the holiday season. She hadn’t fought with me yet.

I reach out to touch Naru’s shoulder, but before I can, the door to the room gets thrown open. “I can’t take this any longer!” Lin very nearly yelled as he entered abruptly. Kenji was clinging onto Lin’s back and Lin had half-heartedly placed a hand on my thigh to make sure that my body wouldn’t fall to the ground. Kenji was giggly and squealing as Lin hefted my body a bit higher up on his back. Ugh, I didn’t know that my teeth were so obvious. It was a wonder that no one had commented on it yet.

Naru turned to look out the window again, no doubt trying to avoid Lin’s accusatory glare. “Let’s see if we can find Kenji before it’s too late.” That’s a fair response.

* * *

“This is it.” John said. “They apparently found Kenji’s whistles against that far wall.”

After Lin’s abrupt entrance, the men of SPR had all made their way down to the aqueduct; Lin standing at an appropriate distance away considering Kenji still seemed to be having balance problems. It didn’t look like he’d yet focused too much on the tail – likely not even knowing what those extra senses were and choosing to ignore it, but I’d seen him fall over 3 times in the past 5 minutes _while clutching onto Lin._ That was an accomplishment, and I’d honestly be impressed, but I was going to be the one having to deal with the bruised kneecaps and slightly bloody palms. I think that Lin is the only one to notice Kenji’s injuries, but with the death grip that Kenji had on his coat, it’s no wonder he didn’t make that much of a note about it.

Hopefully it would be healed by the time that I got my body back and Lin wouldn’t question the small bit of blood on his coat sleeve.

“Hmm, looks like this is where the old trash incinerator was.” Monk commented as he patted the wall, entering the little alcove thing where I had originally found Thanad. He walked further, using his height to peer over the back wall to the aqueduct. “Oh I see, the aqueduct is right behind here. It looks pretty deep. Father Tojo said that Kenji was playing hide and seek before he disappeared right?” Monk reached up and abruptly hauled himself up to stand on the edge of the wall and then he jumped down on the other side. He just sort of disappeared and John being John rushed forward in a panic.

To be fair, Takigawa had just completely disappeared on the other side of the wall after jumping, and he was a tall man. “Takigawa!” he yelled, peering over the edge of the wall in horror.

Monk, being the little shit that he is, stood up to his full height and looked at John in false confusion. “What is it?” It was so sudden that John fell backwards with a small cry, as Naru walked past him to also look over the wall.

“So, there’s a place to stand here.” Naru commented as he looked over the side. He was pretty tall himself, and like Monk, he could just look over without having to haul himself up like John did.

“Yup. I can see why he’d choose this spot. Not many kids would think to look over here.” Monk comments, squatting and looking into the water. But also, not many kids would actually be able to get over there. They simply didn’t have the upper body strength to climb that wall, and they were too short.

Naru seemed to be on the same wavelength as me because he said, “a child his age couldn’t scale a wall this high.”

“That’s true, but at the time, this entire area was under construction.” John commented, looking around the small enclosed area. In that moment, I could picture a young boy climbing over some objects and falling over the wall into the water.

Monk looked somber. “He could have easily climbed on some scaffolding or lumber to get over the wall.”

“It surely would have made it easier for him.” John agreed.

“So, he starts out by jumping on some lumber,” Monk begins to describe a possible scenario. “And then as he’s climbing over the wall his whistle gets caught and falls to the ground. After he’s made it over, he accidentally falls into the aqueduct. The water was cold that time of year. Poor kid never had a chance.” He looked up, “that sound about right to you?”

“There’s no way of knowing, but it is worth considering.” Naru declared, looking at a map of the church grounds. “I’m going to go see if I can make any more progress on finding Kenji. Lin! Continue babysitting Karma, keep him busy.” And then Naru was just up and walking away. I was again confronted with the choice on who I was supposed to follow. I couldn’t be in two places at once, and of course, SPR was separating again. Naru was a big fan of the divide and conquer method.

 _“Naru!”_ Lin hissed in shock. 

Naru ignored his protests though. “John, Takigawa. Stay with them.” He called over his shoulder, stalking away like he always did.

Monk was quick to recover and hopped back over the wall. “Hey there!” he called as he ran over towards Kenji. “What should we play, Kenji?” he asked, acting more boisterous than before. It was something I noticed that they all did, when around a child. Kenji looked slightly offended and only held onto Lin’s arm tighter. Naru was already gone by this time, so I simply decided to stay with this group and let Naru do his own thing with the research. I have a feeling that it won’t be anything fun, and I’d much rather watch Monk make a fool out of himself. “Don’t worry it’s okay! Your dad can play with us too!”

The monk patted Kenji’s head, and at his words, the kid immediately brightened. He laughed cheerfully and beamed at Monk. _My fucking teeth Kenji, please stop smiling goddammit._ Lin was just as unhappy as I was – it looks like playing dad was really getting to him. “Would you stop it?” he hissed, scowling aggressively. Kenji didn’t seem to notice and began to drag Lin over in the direction of the playground, eventually letting go to twirl around and laugh a couple feet ahead of the adults.

Monk was quick to take that time to lay a hand on Lin’s shoulder and whisper to him. “I know it sucks, but as long as he’s clinging to you he won’t go hiding in the woods.” He raised his voice slightly so that Kenji could hear him as he smiled brightly. “Now let’s go have some fun!”

The next little while of our day was something that if it was anyone else, would make me laugh for hours. Unfortunately, it was my body that Kenji was making look like an idiot. He ran into the church, pulling Lin behind him and from the looks of it, taking advantage of my strength. Monk and John actually had to jog a bit to keep up with the excited child in a superpowered teenager’s body. Soon enough, Kenji’s destination was apparent as the small group made their way into a kitchen area to find Ayako, Masako, a volunteer and Father Tojo in the midst of baking.

Kenji gasped in awe as he looked at all the different treats that they were making. “Oh girls! You shouldn’t have! It’s like a bakery in here!” Monk’s cheerful voice echoed through the room as he watched Kenji make me look like an utter child. Kenji’s eyes were wide with awe as he gawked at the baked goods. Wow when did my teeth get that long, and was my tongue actually pointed? Why didn’t I notice these things…

“It smells delicious.” John said, putting forward his own two cents and smiling brightly at the female members of SPR.

“Thanks John.” Masako smiled softly, for once not hiding it behind her kimono sleeve because the sleeves were rolled up and tied back so that she could wear an apron. “They’ll be handing these out tonight to anyone who comes to midnight mass.”

“That’s nice! I’ll get my hands dirty if you need some help.” Monk offered, which of course caught Kenji’s attention and he quickly turned to Lin with a bright smile on his face. Uh no, Kenji. If you raise up my sleeves at least two knives and a lot of tattoos are going to become very obvious. The volunteer looked over worriedly at Father Tojo, but the man just nodded in ascent, which didn’t go unnoticed by Bou-san. “I’ll bet out father-son gang is game too! Right?” he stared imploringly at Lin. Oh he was good.

Lin took a very deep breath, before exhaling slowly. Today is a very very long day for the poor man. I have a feeling that he’s going to blow before the day is over.

Masako and the others lead us into a bigger room where they had the cakes placed in the centers of large tables around the room and then sat the children down with one of the SPR team members at each table (not including me and Lin). “Now all that’s left is to cover the cakes with foil and gift wrap them.” She turned to look kindly at Kenji. “Would you like to help us with that?” Kenji nodded violently, shaking my hair enough that the tips of my ears (and therefore the simple earrings I had in today) were visible.

Monk and John were having a grand ol’ time playing with the children while getting their cakes wrapped, but Lin was having way less fun. Kenji had immediately noticed how immaculate Lin’s bows were, and he immediately seized the cake and untied the bow before looking at Lin expectantly. “You want me to do it again?” he asked incredulously, quickly beginning to lose his patience. In order to stave off the inevitable meltdown – it was either going to be Lin or Kenji or even both – I reached forward and tried to focus on interacting with the physical world. It took a bit of doing, but then I was actually holding the ribbon and quickly tying it into a bow like the others.

Lin reached down a moment after I finished to tie the thing again, but when his hand only hit the table, he saw that the bow had been tied once more. His eyes widened imperceptibly as he looked around suddenly. “Hara-san, do you know if there’s any other spirits here than just Kenji?” he asked suddenly. Masako looked at him confused for a moment before suddenly her eyes landed on me. They went round with wonder before she pointed just past Kenji’s shoulder.

“I do believe that there is something there. I don’t know if it’s just Kenji not having complete control over Karma or if it’s something else, but there appears to only be activity around Karma.” She said as I shifted to deliberately move closer to my body. The energy signatures should tell her that nothing is off; she’d seen possessions before, so I honestly doubt that this was all that abnormal. Then again, she hadn’t commented on seeing Thanad. Perhaps I was just special. Lin dropped the subject, but I did catch him glancing quizzically at the bow every now and then.

Across the room, all eyes were on us. Monk was snickering softly at Lin’s suffering, but the rest looked sadly on the scene that Kenji and Lin made, completely oblivious to the spontaneous retying of the bow. “Kenji was such a sweet child, and so patient waiting for his dad. He would often stand waiting at the gates of the church which is the place where he said goodbye to his father for the last time.” The volunteer commented, wiping a tear from her eye.

“And now that he thinks he’s with his dad again, he literally can’t take his eyes off him.” Ayako remarked sadly.

Masako nodded, smiling at the bittersweet scene. “Imagine the joy he must feel, reuniting with his dad on Christmas Eve.”

“I can’t blame him for being so happy.” John smiled. It seems like everyone was just enjoying the holiday atmosphere. But it wouldn’t last.

“Ah all done!” Monk announced brightly as he placed the last cake on the pile. “After we get everything put away, it’s playtime!” This got all the kids (including Kenji) all began to cheer loudly. Kenji was quick to drag Lin away, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Monk was equally as swift to comment on it. “I know it’s a little bizarre, but it’s kinda heartwarming to see them together.”

“Yeah, but it is still pretty weird.” John agreed, looking up at the monk. The SPR irregulars were all incredibly amused by Kenji.

“You have to admit that is pretty cute to see Karma act half his age. He’s usually so serious and intense. Now if only Lin was more into it.” Monk joked, and he was probably going to continue mocking me and Lin, when Lin finally had enough.

“Enough already!” he yelled, drawing everyone’s attention. Lin had shoved Kenji off of him and was holding up a hand to stop the kid from latching back onto him. Fuck, that wasn’t good.

Monk and the others quickly ran over to the other side of the room. “Hey Lin, what’s the matter.” Monk said in a warning tone. He was clearly telling Lin to back down, especially considering his eyes kept flickering to Kenji every couple of seconds. The message was clear, but Lin was too angry to get it. 

“Why should I have to put up with this charade any longer?” Lin demanded, glaring down at Kenji. Kenji reached out for Lin again, but he just got brushed off. “Get _off_ of me!”

“Take it easy Lin.” Monk’s voice was hard; his warning was now more of a command than a suggestion. _Yes Lin, you need to calm the fuck down! Kenji’s gonna bolt!_ And Kenji really did look like he was gonna run away. His emotions were twisting my features into something that closely resembled heartbreak.

“You need to understand that I am _not_ your father. It’s all a big mistake and I want you to _leave me alone_.”

Kenji’s eyes widened and then began to water before suddenly the boy ran from the room, pushing my legs as fast as they could go. He zoomed out of there, and the others had no hope of catching up. “Karma! Wait!” Monk yelled before realizing that Kenji wouldn’t respond to that name. “Uh I mean Kenji!” They stood stunned for a moment, just taking in how fast Kenji ran, but then Monk, John, and Lin seemed to regain control over their senses and they ran out of the room to follow Kenji. I ran along with them, watching as they made their way out of the church.

Of course, as luck dictates, Naru was making his way towards the church at this time and he met the group halfway. “What’s wrong?” Naru asked as he rushed forwards to meet the group. He was carrying a rolled-up paper in his one hand and the closer he got the more concerned that he looked.

“Karma ran off.” Monk announced, sounding surprisingly angry. Naru’s expression hardened and he opened his mouth to ask what happened, but he was interrupted by an echoing tapping noise. It was damn near impossible to hear where it was coming from

“That sounds like Kenji using the sticks!” John gasped, whirling around to try and pinpoint the noise. He looked worried, and I was a bit worried about my body as well. I only had on a light sweatshirt, and without consciously regulating my body temperature, I was just as vulnerable in the cold as another human. I ran a bit hotter naturally, but it was December, and this was a different situation. The body of someone possessed for a long period of time tends to cool slowly but surely, and while my powers would counteract that to a certain degree, it isn’t enough. I was wearing a thin sweatshirt and a t-shirt.

Everyone’s heads turned to look around the church grounds, and Naru’s focused on the woods. “I think you made him angry.” Monk growled, and the way the tapping was paced did sound mocking. Everyone exchanged a glance before simultaneously heading in different directions to look for where Kenji could have possibly hidden. The tapping noises were echoing off of the church and other walls. I couldn’t even begin to pinpoint where it came from.

I moved to follow one of the SPR members, but then I was suddenly hit with this incredibly fatigued feeling. In a flash, I had fallen forwards onto all fours. My vision was blotched with black and I could hear the blood pounding in my ears. It was overwhelming and before I could even fully comprehend that something was happening, I was going away.

_Daddy, are you leaving me again?_

* * *

_“I’ll be back for you as soon as I can. Now be a good boy and do what the Father tells you, okay?”_

_When will you come back? Tomorrow? The next day?_

_“I promise that we’ll be spending next Christmas together. Goodbye son.”_

_I’ll be a good boy. I promise. Please come back soon, Daddy._

* * *

I jolt forwards again, falling face first on the stone ground. When my ears stopped ringing and I could feel the extremities of my body again, I suddenly became aware of the fact that the tapping had stopped. The four guys had regrouped only a couple feet away from me as soon as the tapping stopped. “It just suddenly stopped.” I vaguely hear Monk say as I struggle to get to my feet.

“So Takigawa-san, why did you allow Karma to run off?” Naru demanded harshly, turning on the three spiritualists.

“Well Lin just snapped at him and then Karma got offended and ran out.” Monk said defensively, turning Naru’s ire towards his assistant. Lin remained silent, despite Naru’s glare, and eventually Naru looked down and away.

“That’s very disappointing.”

John placed a finger on his chin before turning to catch Naru’s attention. “Let’s focus on where Karma could be hiding from us.

Then Monk seemed to get a great idea. “Wait, I know!” Lin and Naru looked up, intrigued by the possibility of Monk actually knowing something. He immediately ran towards the aqueduct, thinking that that’s actually where Kenji died. “Hey Karma!” he yelled over the wall, only to see that Kenji wasn’t there.

“Anything?”

“Nothing.” Monk shook his head, looking frustrated beyond belief. “And there’s no sign that he fell in the water!” he yelled in frustration. He looked very much panicked and honestly, I couldn’t blame him. There had always been an odd feeling in the back of my mind – a sort of connection to my body despite Kenji’s presence. But right now, it was gone.

John looked up. “If we’re to go off what he’s done in the past, he’ll leave Karma on his own accord any time now.” Well that was a relief… but the problem is that nothing is happening to… well me, to indicate that Kenji’s possession is nearing its limit.

“John drove Kenji out of Thanad just a few hours ago, and then Kenji quickly possessed Karma who was nearby. Apparently, it was the first time that he had done that. And this was also the first time that knocking sounds were involved.” Naru turned to face John, directly addressing the priest as he wound up to what was hopefully the plan for moving forwards. “You said you felt an unusual resistance from Kenji when you drove him out of Thanad. He must have been quite reluctant to leave his father’s side with that reaction.”

John shifted awkwardly under Naru’s onslaught. “That could be the case. The reaction and the knocking sounds were definitely more intense this time.

“You also said the frequency of Kenji’s appearances have increased lately.” Naru very nearly snapped. There was something about this case that was apparently setting him on edge and it was unsettling for everyone. Monk was stressed, and John was, and I didn’t know how to react. Everything was just sort of going to hell and I don’t know what’s happening or why I’m out of my body and having blackouts out of the blue. We didn’t know where Kenji was, and I haven’t panicked quite like this in a _long_ time. “Up to this point he’s willfully removed himself from the children he’s possessed. However, this time it might not be the case. That’s the reason that I asked you to keep Karma company.” Lin actually looked a bit taken aback by Naru’s sudden attack.

“Yeah but, let’s be fair. Lin was never made aware of that.” Monk said, coming to the Chinese man’s defense. “So, what do we do now?”

“Do we know what happened to Kenji’s father or did he just disappear?”

“Practically. All I heard was that after he left Kenji here, he started working a job over in Osaka.” John began, speaking slowly like he was trying to remember exactly what was said. “He was never heard from again. A few weeks after Kenji disappeared, Father Tojo received a letter stating he passed away. But it never explained how he died.”

“So why does Kenji do it?” Now they were asking some real questions. Think like a profiler; finding out the why will help you track them down.

“What?”

“He hides and then signals to the others, asking to be found. He eventually comes out without being found so disappearing isn’t his objective. Now it could be as Father Tojo believes and he just wants to be noticed, but why Kenji? Why do you continue to play the game?” By the time Naru finished his little speech, he wasn’t addressing anyone physical anymore. _He wants to be found, Naru. Find his body – find where he died_. I’d already said this, but as usual, they don’t pay attention to what I say. Ugh, I gotta make sure that I never get possessed again this was getting fucking annoying.

There was a moment of silence, but then Lin suddenly spoke. “Because he wants to go back.”

John frowned. “Go back? Back to where?”

“Back to the church.” Naru declares, practically having a staring contest with Lin.

“Oh, I see.” Monk smirked. “He thinks if he can get back to the church then his father will come and get him. Then the two of them will go home. Way to go, _dad_.” He sneered at Lin, clearly blaming him for the fact that Kenji went missing with my body in tow. I mean, technically it was Lin’s fault, but Monk was wasting brain power being bitter when Kenji was still missing and we’re still not close enough to solving this damn case and I could become collateral.

“That’s it. Kenji’s spirit is lost, so he’s forced to possess the children and play hide and seek. He does this, because it’s his only chance of being found.” There it is. We’re finally getting somewhere. “He’s trying to end the game.” That sounded a lot more dramatic than it probably was, but he got his point across. I shiver involuntarily, feeling a weird ache in my knees and a cold on my nose. That wasn’t good.

“Alright, then let’s quite talking about it and go find him.” Monk said, getting up from where he was leaning against the wall and placing his hands on his hips. “Because the longer we wait the more worried I get about Karma’s wellbeing in all this. I mean it’s December and he’s not even wearing a coat for crying out loud.” Very true. At least _someone_ is actually worried about my wellbeing. 

“It’ll take more than just the three of us. I looked everywhere for a good hour and came up empty. Why don’t we unleash the children to help?” I’m both surprised and not surprised at the same time that Naru was the one who suggested we ‘unleash the children’ as a viable strategy and actually called it ‘unleashing’.

“And how is that going to help us? The kids weren’t able to find him 30 years ago.” Monk argues, looking confused as Naru unrolled that paper that he’d been carrying around. It was a map of the church grounds.

Naru shook his head, folding up the map. “Which is exactly why we’ll be following the children while they look for him.”

“And then we’ll explore the places that they don’t look.” John’s entire face lit up – like he had that lightbulb moment and was insanely proud of the stuff that he just did.

Monk grinned, actually looking determined. “Wow, that’s genius! Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Let’s hurry.”

* * *

“Time to play a little game!” Monk grinned down at the children surrounding him. “When I say ‘go’, I want you to try and find our friend Karma – the one with the red hair – because he’s hiding somewhere okay? Sound like fun?” He raised his hand in the air and all the children immediately copied him, looking determined as all hell to find me. I was kind of touched. Kind of. “Great, ready, go!”

At his call, the children immediately began to scatter around the church, looking all around under and behind everything that they could think of. The members of the SPR team had split up to follow kids through various rooms. The kids were a complete disaster, often giving up the hunt in favour of attacking those watching over them. Still, they were covering more ground than what the SPR team could have done alone.

“Man, these kids are either sweethearts or completely out of control! How are you doing, John?” Monk asked slightly breathlessly as he and John leaned against some bookshelves.

John smiled weakly up at the monk. “Yeah. I think they just get excited when people come to visit. Although they may seem happy, I think many of them are lonely since they haven’t seen their parents in so long.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Monk smiled softly, then a look of confusion and panic flashed across his face. “Hold on, what are you getting at? Are some of these kids gonna start thinking that I’m their dad?” That’s when the door opened to reveal Naru and Lin. “Don’t worry! We’re working, honestly.” Monk said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. Neither man bothered addressing him yet and instead they all watched as a boy ran in front of them and opened some lower cupboards. “Nice try kid, but too obvious.”

Monk smiled as the kid kept running around, but then his eyes moved upwards and a dumfounded look came across his face. “Of course!” he turned to John. “If you watch closely, you’ll notice that the kids only look in places easily accessible to them.” They continued walking through the church and observing the numerous children looking around. Suddenly, Monk stopped. “Hey John, do you notice? None of them are looking up.”

The two of them stared slightly horrified at the high ceiling. “Since they’re all so small, they’re not considering anywhere above them to be a possible hiding place. And neither are we.” Shit, I’d never even thought of that. “Karma could have climbed anywhere, you’ve seen how he is.”

“What I’m really more concerned about is outside the church.” John admitted, sharing in Bou-san’s apparent horror. As one, the two turned and immediately ran towards the front of the church, exiting and looking around at the vast area that they would have to search.

“Man, he could be anywhere.” Monk whispered in dismay. I have a pretty strong feeling that I’m in the woods actually.

John had the same idea. “I’m willing to bet that he climbed up a tree. I’m going to go over here and check this side of the church.”

Monk nodded. “Right. I’ll check this side.” I followed Monk as he ran through the woods, using his long legs to cover more distance. With my speed and the fact that I didn’t have to worry about obstacles, I was able to keep up easily. A minute or two later, a cry broke through the trees and took Monk’s attention.

“Karma!”

It was John. Monk went crashing through the trees, eventually finding John standing at the base of a particularly tall tree. “What? You found him already?” And sure enough, there was Kenji, about halfway up the tree. He was clutching onto the trunk tightly. “We’ve been looking for you!” he calls up to Kenji, moving towards the base of the tree. It took him a moment, but soon enough he’d climbed up the tree and was reaching out to Kenji. “It’s okay.” He offered his hand and Kenji slowly climbed onto his back, allowing Monk to climb down the tree safely.

“Poor thing, you must’ve been freezing your tail off, being up in that tree for so long.” He says gently, shrugging off his coat and wrapping it around Kenji’s shoulders. He was shivering lightly and staring off into the distance. Bou-san bent down and tried to look into Kenji’s eyes, but Kenji just began to cry softly. Monk very nearly jumped backwards at the sight of big fat tears beginning to roll down my angular cheeks.

“You found him.”

Naru and the others approached from behind us, drawing Kenji’s attention. He went from crying softly to smiling in hope, and if that wasn’t the saddest thing. In a flash, Kenji was running and body slamming Lin without a care in the world. He was just so happy to see the man that he thought was his father. In the process he ended up dumping Monk’s coat on the ground.

I had the briefest moment to contemplate just how embarrassed I was to have the team see my body crying and acting like a child before Monk’s grumbling cut through my thoughts. “Aghhhhh come on! What does Lin have that I don’t? I mean I’m a nice guy, right?” Woah there, friend, you were getting pretty intense right there.

Seeing that Lin was yet again unprepared to deal with a death hug from Kenji, Naru decided to intervene. He bent down slightly so that his height was closer to that of my own. “Hello there, Kenji. That man is not your dad.” Kenji froze up, turning to look up at Naru, his eyes watering like crazy. “Your real dad is in Heaven and he’s waiting for you to be with him. You don’t ever have to play hide and seek ever again. Kenji, where are you hiding?” Kenji looked up, and we were in the perfect spot to see what he was looking at.

We had come to a clearing, where you could see the giant statues on the church front. At the base of one of them, sat a small pile of something. “He’s right there.” Naru whispered in awe, moving to point out the small pile in the alcove.

Ayako’s eyes widened, “my God.”

“No way.” Masako whispered.

“How did he get up there?” John asked.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on what must be where Kenji’s remains were, so they didn’t see that Kenji had released Lin and begun to step away. He walked up to Naru, stopping to smile at him for a moment, gratitude obvious in his gaze. “Thank you, sir.” He whispered. I wasn’t aware that my voice could sound like that – possession teaches you a lot of things about yourself, huh. Like how apparently the placement of the knives in my sleeves was not ideal for climbing because there was a thin line of blood beginning to trickle down my untattooed arm, dripping down my fingertips.

Naru’s eyes flickered down to the blood just as my body abruptly collapsed. I didn’t get sucked in right away, so I sort of just stood there and watched as Monk rushed forwards to catch me. Kenji appeared to be gone, at least from my body. Monk quickly looked me over before panicking at the sight of the trickle of blood on my arm. “Oh my god! He’s bleeding!” he yelled, pulling at my sleeve to expose the cut.

There situated in a small pocket on my inner sleeve was a small throwing knife, and Monk held it up for the others to see. “What the hell is he doing with that?” Ayako asked as she came forwards and gently lifted my arm to get a better look at the cut. “He must have cut it when he was climbing.” She took the knife and looked at it. “It’s not that bad of a cut, just needs a band aid or two. Wait… he’s too cold.” Ayako realized very quickly as she processed what she felt upon touching my arm.

Monk leaned down quickly and looked up in panic. “Shit! He’s not breathing!” That caused all of them (well save Naru and Lin but including Masako) to start panicking. Whelp. That’s my cue. I hurry over to my body and sort of just… fall towards it and hope for the best. The last thing I catch sight of is the slight furrow of worry between Naru’s eyebrows.

* * *

_What should I do? Father Tojo and the others are about to leave. I’m right here._

* * *

_I’m so cold. Daddy, please come get me soon. I miss you so much, Daddy._

* * *

_Daddy!_

* * *

I shot awake, breathing heavily and flailing around wildly. I’d had wicked nightmares about playing hide and seek and being lost. With a flick of my wrist I had another knife in my hand and ready to defend myself.

“Calm down. You’re okay.” A deep voice spoke from beside me. I look around, my eyes wild for a moment before they settle on Naru. Him and Lin were calmly sitting beside my bed. Lin was drinking from a cup of tea and Naru was reading… my notebook. On the table beside him, was the knife that had cut me. The blade had been wiped clean of the blood. I took a deep breath before lowering the knife I had in my hand, carefully tucked it in my sleeve once more. A quick check of my person revealed that none of my other weapons had been displaced. “It’s good to see you awake.” Naru said surprisingly gently. “We were understandably concerned when you stopped breathing.”

Oh yeah. That. “Well, when Kenji left my body, there was a time when I guess it was essentially empty. Kenji kicked me out and none of you could see me, so I sort of just hung around. I wasn’t expecting Kenji to leave so suddenly, so I didn’t return to my body right away.” I ramble a bit reaching out to grab the throwing knife on the table and move to hide it in my sleeve when Naru reaches out to grab my wrist to halt my progress.

“That was incredibly stupid, Karma. You should have known better to not leave your body unattended.” Naru scolded, looking me in the eye even as he stopped me from concealing my weapon. “But that brings up another question; why do you have weapons on you? I know that those two knives aren’t the only ones.” I tug my wrist out of his and finish stowing the knife.

I cock my head to the side and smile at him – a more natural smile, not the kind that Kenji forced my body into. “Ghosts aren’t the only hazardous things in my life, Naru. I’m always prepared for a threat. My instincts serve me well and I heal fast, as you know. I don’t have defensive powers in the way that you do, so I use physical prowess. I’m very accomplished in hand to hand – looking the way I look and being gay in Japan… you need to be. Besides, you were there this morning. They were birthday gifts, of course I keep them on me.” I don’t mention what my other job is. He doesn’t need to know. I doubt that he’d take it all that well to know that he was employing a literal gang member and killer.

He stares at me for a moment, seemingly gauging my stability or whatever, but he dropped the topic. “You said that Kenji pushed you out of your body?” he asked, bringing the topic back to the paranormal; a topic in which he was comfortable in and one that I wanted to learn more about. “That’s not normal for possessions, do you happen to know why?”

Now that, I could answer honestly. “I have absolutely no idea. I just felt a shove and then suddenly Kenji was the one in my body and I was left to watch. It was like we had switched places.” I tell him, before my gaze suddenly falls to my notebook. “You been doing some reading?” He smirks slightly before placing the book at the edge of my bed and standing up.

“You have some very interesting observations.” He says simply. “When you’re feeling up to it, Lin will help you downstairs and then we’ll leave. Mass should be over soon.” And then Naru was leaving what I would assume to be the infirmary. Lin and I sat in a somewhat comfortable silence for a moment while Lin finished his tea, but I could tell that he wants to say something.

“You have a tail.”

Well, I can’t say that I didn’t expect this. I just didn’t like the fact that he knew. Time to do some damage control. “Does Naru know?” I counter, subtly confirming his statement.

The onmyoji nodded. “After Matsuzaki-san was finished bandaging your arm, she and the others left you in our care. I found out when Kenji had taken over your body, and with you unconscious, you had considerably less control.” He said quietly, staring at the wall across the room. I wince at his blunt reply. Shit, they’d seen my fucking tail.

“You haven’t told the others?” I ask softly, looking at his body language closely.

Lin glances at me out of the corner of his eye. “Naru understands the need to keep certain things secret about oneself. Neither of us will push you, but we’d appreciate some knowledge in case something should… happen.” Fair enough.

“Yes. Oliver does have some secrets that I know he’d rather the rest don’t know. I’m not comfortable with telling you here, but perhaps later tonight, we might discuss my… condition over tea.” Lin looks at me, his eyes shocked. He knew that I knew about Naru’s powers, but apparently me knowing his real name wasn’t something that he’d expected. I smiled at him, bearing my teeth so that they glinted in the light. “I’ve kept quiet about what I know – I expect the same courtesy of course.”

Lin nodded, looking at me with a slightly more guarded expression. “I’ll be sure to tell Naru.” He said simply.

Without further adieu, I began to stand up, stretching a bit to crack my… well my everything. Possession and the cold really make your limbs stiff. “Well let’s be off then. I’m sure the others are still planning on having that office party, and I don’t particularly like churches.” And then I was striding from the room, Lin quickly rising to flank me.

* * *

I had the inexplicable urge to just get outside, so as soon as we were in the front, I broke into a sprint, skidding to a halt about 20 feet from the entrance of the church and just breathing in the crisp air. It was snowing lightly, and though I had put on a slightly heavier jacket before leaving the church, it was still easy to feel the cold. It was nice, to be back in my own body. Without thinking too much about how childish it was, I stuck my arms out and sort of just spun, suppressing the urge to laugh.

The case was over, and even though I knew that a serious conversation was going to have to take place before the night was truly over, I didn’t have to be in that damn church any longer than I had to be. And no one had said anything to me when Lin and I met them again after leaving the infirmary. If Father Tojo had noticed anything off, he hadn’t said anything to the others. They were acting completely normally around me… well everyone save Naru and Lin. Lin was actually sticking a bit closer and less coldly, while Naru was watching me with an odd look that if it were anyone else I would have assumed to be grudging suspect. On Naru it just looked more like caution.

“Well, what do you say that we throw that party now!” Monk called as the others calmly walked over to join me. I frown slightly, not all that excited for a party considering my shit was still in the office. Monk didn’t seem to notice my scowl though and simply slung an arm around my shoulder all the while laughing. “It’s good to have you back, kid.” He said cheerfully, reaching down as if to give me a noogie but I duck out from his grip faster. He pouts.

“I’m in! Now who wants cake?” Ayako grinned, coming up to stand next to Monk and grinning. Everyone immediately begins to cheer and dance around in the snow happily. They all turn to look at Naru expectantly and he heaves a sigh.

“A party sounds nice.” He concedes. Everyone beams and Naru and the more excitable members (aka Monk, Ayako, and surprisingly John) move and start jogging lightly away from the church.

“Come on Karma! I’ll race you there!” Monk calls over his shoulder, and well I can’t say no to that. With one last look at Lin, I dig my shoes into the snow and begin to run, easily catching up to the other three.

I roll my eyes before running backwards and easily keeping up with and surpassing Monk despite the height difference. “Come on then old man, I bet ya can’t beat me!” I grin cheekily before picking up the pace. The last thing I see before I turn around and begin to run in earnest is Monk’s dumbstruck face at my agility, speed and traction. He had slipped on the snow two times already, so me in my combat boots running like there was no snow must have been something.

* * *

I slam the door shut and lean against it heavily. I’d just shown the last person out after the impromptu office party and I was exhausted. My body was even more exhausted though – possession really does take a lot out of you, even if I was half demon and had high stamina. Dealing with the co-workers was also incredibly taxing, and by the end of it I was just really ready to sit down with a cup of tea and eat everything that I had in the cupboards back at my apartment. I had a high metabolism, and Kenji hadn’t eaten all day – a good thing for when Ayako checked on my cut, but a very bad thing for my energy levels.

I haven’t felt this drained since I attended True Cross Academy and that was years ago!

Unfortunately, I would not be able to return to my apartment to lick my metaphorical and literal wounds, seeing as I still had a very important conversation to have with Naru and Lin. However, I refused to do it without tea and food, so I went to the kitchen and begun grabbing snacks while I waited for the water to boil. Naru can wait while I stuff my face. I tore open and entire pack of biscuits and sort of just began chomping on them with gusto as I danced around the kitchen grabbing things and dumping them on a tray. Weight wasn’t an issue, and I was pretty good at balancing trays if I do say so myself.

Yada had insisted that I learn how to waitress as soon as she secured her part time job. Well, she insisted that everyone learn, and since it was supposed to help us blend in on assassinations, none of us could argue. By the end of that very long and very painful day, we had figured out who was graceful and who was clumsy. Nagisa had been an absolute flustered mess, and I, as always, had been an absolute delight.

That’s when I remembered a thing that I had to do. I quickly summoned a little demon doll and riffled through the cupboards until I found where I’d hidden the gifts I’d gotten from the SPR irregulars’ prying eyes. In the very bottom of the bag, Nagisa had snuck in a smaller velvet bag. On the inside was a simple key ring with a small chain attached to it. The little doll (only about the size of one of those teddy bear key chains with the location name on them) toddled around the counter curiously. I secured the little chain to the collar that doll was wearing and then let the little thing wander around.

“Now you better watch over Naru for me, alright? I’m counting on you to warn me if he ever gets into trouble and to make sure that he stays out of it. I also expect you to send reports to me on what he’s doing. His business is about to become my business.” I tell the doll as I begin to steep the tea. Once the tea is done, I put the little doll (who had gone limp now) into the small velvet bag and stuck it on the edge of the tray along with the tea and my snacks. Still munching on my biscuits, I make my way into the common area to see that Lin and Naru were sitting there waiting for me.

For once, Lin didn’t have his laptop out – I greatly appreciated the gesture, even if I would have had Ritsu go in and delete any notes that he made. I dump the tray on the table and flop on the couch, cracking my neck and finishing my biscuit. Naru made a face but didn’t start speaking as he reached for his cup of tea, Lin following suit. I grab another cookie and uncurl my tail, letting it sweep out from under my shirt and swish around.

Naru’s eyes immediately leapt to the tail. “So, it’s true. You do have a tail.” He murmured, fascination obvious in his stare. “Explain.” Well he wasn’t wasting any time, was he.

“Well, let’s start with the fact that I’ve been keeping some secrets, and before you start so have you, and I’ve figured them out.” I flick my tail around, internally laughing as his eyes follow the fluffy tip. “I know you’ve been trying to figure out what exactly about me was so weird, but unfortunately, seeing as Lin has seen the tail, I have to come clean now. It’d be rather messy if you got the wrong idea, so I’ll just come out and say it. I’m half-demon. The son of Satan, to be more precise.” Naru very nearly spits out his tea, and Lin doesn’t look much better.

“I’m not evil, though, so you don’t have to worry. Just think of me as… enhanced. I have a high metabolism–” I wave my 5th biscuit in the air, “–so I need to eat more. That metabolism allows me to heal myself faster and I have some cool powers. I’m not defenseless. My twin brother is a demon exorcist with the Vatican, so I learned how to defend myself at their request.” I don’t want to tell him too much, just enough so that he gets the idea. I can’t tell him about Class E – ah, the joys of government secrets – but I can tell him about my heritage. Hopefully he isn’t biased; he’s too smart for that. I’m not sure why I’m telling him more than I have to, but something about him makes me think that I can trust him.

It’s like that weird connection that I had with Nagisa, now that I think about it.

Naru’s eyes crinkled slightly at the mention of a twin brother, and I make a note to ask about that. Eugene hadn’t had many articles available about him, and I hadn’t cared to look too much into him anyways. (Speaking of him, I still hadn’t seen dream Naru, so as of yet, my hypothesis is unconfirmed.) Pity. “I don’t know much about paranormal things, but if it’s something more than a ghost, I will be more than capable of handling it.” I continue. “All the same, I’d greatly appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell the others any of this. Ayako already freaked out about my scars, and I’d rather not explain mixed genes even if she’s supposed to be the team’s doctor. I have enough medical training that I can handle myself, and in the event I need help… well I should be able to hide it. Just no hospitals, because I know I’m going to keep getting hurt on these cases.” I grumble, nursing my cup of tea.

“Of course. I appreciate your honesty, and as long as the same courtesy is extended towards my own secrets, we’ll be happy to keep yours until you so choose to tell the others. Lin tells me that you know about my identity.” Naru said, placing his cup on the table and leaning forwards with a serious look on his face. “I believe you understand why I don’t want the others to know about it.” I nod. Monk alone was gonna be a pain in the ass when he finds out. He’s a right ol’ fanboy.

I cock my head to the side, my tail flipping back and forth with my emotions due to its freedom. “Ah yes, I wanted to ask. Why are you here? In Japan, I mean. It doesn’t really make sense since as far as I know, you have classes that you could be teaching back in England. I’m sure your parents must be worried.” I say casually.

“My twin brother was murdered. I need to find his body, and this is just a cover. I take cases because I want to, not because I have to.” Fair enough. I quickly polish off the last of the snacks and lean back into the cushions, curling up on my side and getting comfortable. In a stressful situation like this, my instincts were running rampant, and right now, I just wanted to curl up and hide from the world while I recovered from my exhaustion.

“I might have some areas that I can search that you don’t have access to.” I say simply, looking him in the eye and trying to convey my intentions. “Just don’t ask too many questions about where I get my information.”

He looked at me oddly. “Just like that, you’ll offer to help.” He asks, slightly suspiciously.

I shrug, “I have a twin too. And even though I didn’t grow up with him, I’d do the same if I knew that he was murdered.” I answer simply. He seems to accept that, a quiet look of gratefulness crossing his features.

“I’ll do my best to cover for you as well, there’s no need for the others to panic.” Naru agrees, surprisingly amicable. “I have a few questions.” It was phrased as a statement, but the look in his eyes told me that he was still asking for my permission. How kind.

“Go right ahead. I’ll do my best to answer.”

“Do you believe that your psychic abilities are linked to your demonic ones?”

Simple question, but not so simple of an answer because I honestly didn’t know. “I’m honestly not sure. I have heightened instincts and senses because demons are more aware of the world than humans are, but I honestly wasn’t sure that I was someone with psychic abilities. However, I have been having odd dreams during out cases – and even before this. That’s not something demon related, so I’m inclined to believe that I’ve developed some psychic abilities.”

He looked interested in continuing down that avenue but held himself back. “Do you know if your abilities would be effective in the field?”

“As far as I can tell, past basic instincts, my demonic abilities are completely useless.” I growl in frustration. “I know how to handle demons and humans, but ghosts are an entirely new ballpark. Me performing an exorcism is understandably, out of the question.”

He nods and gets his thinking face on again. “Hmm, I’ll be sure to factor that in on future cases then. You say that your intuition hasn’t proven to be wrong before?”

I nod, my eyes drooping slightly as I snuggle a bit deeper into the couch. “Yes. I’m pretty badass, Naru, and danger sense is pretty damn strong. I didn’t like Obusuna from the start, for example.”

“Yes, and you can see my… aura. Is that a side effect of enhanced vision or psychic abilities.”

“I honestly couldn’t tell you.” I yawn. “This is newer, so I’d lean more towards psychic abilities. They seem to be developing in your presence.” There’s a silence for a moment before I hear shuffling and someone walking out of the room.

“So, this is why you looked so uncomfortable around Father Tojo.” I hear Naru muse quietly to himself. “It’s late, why don’t you stay here for the night. Lin’s grabbing some blankets.” I hear Naru say softly as there’s a light clinking by the table. I roll over, cracking my eyes open a bit to look up at him.

I yawn widely once more, showing off my fangs like a cat. “Hmm, before you go I have something for you. Think of it as a Christmas present.” I flop my hand onto the table and come up with the velvet bag, tossing it to him lightly. “It’s a protection charm.”

Naru looks surprised as he caught the small bag. He pulled out the doll and his eyes widened even further. “It’s Guertena.” I continue to explain, “blessed by one of the Paladins. It’s to ward off demons – they’re surprisingly common.” He looks at it a bit dubiously but wraps his fingers around the little plush doll nonetheless.

“Thank you.”

* * *

The next morning, I wake up at 6:30 A.M. thanks to Ritsu setting an alarm. Sitting on the table was an office key and a small red envelope, like the ones used for Chinese New Year. It had an intricate gold leaf design in the shape of a sun and a moon. I reach for it confused and open it to find a small card as well as a small metal charm. I shook the bag, having the small charm fall into my hand along with the card.

The charm is a small metal (it was light, but somehow not delicate, I had a feeling that it wouldn’t break easily) Eye of Ra – not the Eye of Horus; they’re different. It must have been harder to find this, not many reputable people sell things like this considering the Eye of Horus was more commonly known and used as a protection charm. The Eye of Horus is more known for its psychic connections, but a bit of research shows that the Eye of Ra is more fitting to my character. It’s known for being the embodiment of Ra’s more chaotic and dark powers. The fact that he’s the sun god only further aligns with myself.

It was a thoughtful gift.

I opened up the card to see that there was a simple two-word message written in neat English print.

_Happy Birthday_


	13. File 5 - Part 1

_A high-pitched ringing ran through my head. But there was one phrase that echoed from the abyss._

_“I’m not a dog.”_

* * *

[January]

[Day 1]

I rush into the office, nearly careening into the kitchen as I rushed to get here. I really couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes late, but Kyoya had had some issues with a client and I’d had to stop by to yell at said client. We were doing fine, we could more than afford to turn down some clients, and this client was being an absolute _asshole._

“You’re late. I need tea.” Naru calls as I make my way past him to hang up my bag.

“Okay but Rokuryo High School was on the news again and the parapsychology class ran late due to our teacher’s newfound obsession.” There. That wasn’t all that farfetched – my teacher had been focusing a little too much of the events of Rokuryo High School, even if today was a day where class actually ended early so that the teacher could watch the news. All the same, I hadn’t actually seen what happened, I was too busy dealing with FUCKING MORONS THAT THOUGHT JUST BECAUSE THEY HAD MONEY, THEY HAD A RIGHT TO BE A DICKBAG TO THE PEOPLE THAT THEY WERE TRYING TO HIRE.

“They said this time that there was a group of students who claimed that they got bit by a dog right in the middle of class.” Takehashi had texted me the updates since I had left the campus while everyone else crowded around the teacher’s laptop. I make my way into the kitchen and begin brewing some tea (the kind of tea blend that calms Naru down the most when he’s in a snit – I found that out after a _lot_ of trial and error). “But the teacher claims that he didn’t see anything. Wait a second, didn’t we get a call from their principal?” That’s when I see that there’s a secondary figure standing behind the screen. I frown and take the teacups with me as I round the divider. “Hello?”

There was in fact, two teenager boys standing there. One was of course, a heavily displeased Naru, and the other was someone that I hadn’t seen before. He was wearing a school uniform and looked kind of plain. He had glasses, boring black hair, and your traditional ikemen disposition. He actually looked a lot like Yukio. Well if Yukio was confident and was a secret troublemaker. That’s right, I see right through you, prissy _asshole_. He was probably on student council or something. “Hi! I’m the student council president at Rokuryo High School.” Hah! I was right. “The name’s Yasu.” Well that was very specific. I vow to never let him know my full name. Fucking asshole being shifty.

Damn I’m in a bad mood.

I turn to stare at Naru, handing him his tea. “What’s going on? I thought that you turned them down?” And really, Naru had been far from pleased when the principal had spoken to him. He’d even been in a right mood for the rest of the day and the day after that too.

“Actually, that’s why I’m here.” The boy – Yasu – pipes up. “I was hoping you would be willing to reconsider.” The guy has guts, I’ll give him that. Naru was glaring pretty hard over the rim of his cup of tea, although I could see it softening slightly the more tea he drank. Yes, it hadn’t been a fluke! Then Yasu was bringing down my mood again by getting real serious. That look looked somewhat out of place on his face; it made me uncomfortable. “The situation has gotten much worse. The student body is getting more and more scared.”

Naru closed his eyes as he nursed his tea. “To be honest with you, I’m actually quite interested in the string of events that have surrounded your school. However, I usually prefer to stay away from any cases the media is covering.” And for good reason too. Not only was Naru Oliver Davis, but his identical twin brother had been murdered here. I know that if I killed someone and then saw that they were on the news I’d want to tie up loose ends, if you will. It was dangerous, and since we didn’t know who we were up against, I couldn’t exactly protect him. Having someone tail him when I’m here almost all the time would be a waste of resources.

(I still hadn’t found anything on his brother though – which was frustrating. Finding Eugene is going to be a challenge, considering I still have no idea how he died because I haven’t found the right time to bring it up with Naru again.)

“I can understand that. There’s been over a dozen reporters at the school for the past few days. That’s why we’re hoping that this case can be solved as soon as possible so we can put it all behind us. Please sir, we need your help.” Yasu then bowed a full 90 degrees. Like… a perfect bow. Naru stared down at him dispassionately, and I was suddenly struck with the imagery of a cruel king looking down at a pleading peasant.

He let out a heavy sigh, setting down his teacup before turning to me. “Karma, call Rokuryo High School for me. Tell them we’ll take the case.” Yasu looked up from his bow, beaming brightly at Naru’s solemn declaration.

“Thank you so much, sir!” he cried cheerfully. I raised my own cup of tea to my lips, hiding the small smirk that I had on my face. I knew that Naru wanted this case, and who knew that all it would take was just a small push from a teenage boy to make him take the case. All the same, I was a bit worried about this case. It sounded like something that might be a biting off more than we can chew.

* * *

[Day 2]

Yasuhara was the one that came to get us as Naru, Monk, and I waited in the front office area. We looked very out of place – Naru in a hilarious turn of events, looking the most like he belonged here. I was dressed casually and as such, I stood out a heck of a lot. Monk’s height and his own odd features did him no favours, and we got a lot of looks from students passing by on their way to various classes.

“Thanks for coming. I’ll show you to the principal’s office.” Yasu said as he began to lead us out of the front office. On my way past the secretary, he shot me a glare. Well fuck you too, sir.

“Well that was uncomfortable.” I whisper to Monk as we follow Naru and Yasu.

Monk shrugged. “In my experience, schools don’t like outsiders coming in.”

I roll my eyes. “Maybe they’re just suspicious of _you,_ Monk. After all, both Naru and I look like we could be students – you’re the adult here.” I joke.

“Get real.” Monk grumbled before suddenly looking a bit concerned. “Have you see Lin?” He asked, lowering his voice even further as he glanced uncertainly at Naru and Yasu, who were walking side by side in silence.

“He’s waiting back at the office to hear about what kind of equipment we’ll have to use.” I say flippantly. “I guess Ayako’s coming with him. John and Masako will be here tomorrow.” That’s all that I knew about our game plan. I have my own notes about this case, but who knows what we’ll end up doing. Soon enough, we were outside of the principal’s office – ew, it had been a while since I’d been in one of these – and by that, I mean the last case that we took. The one at Yuasa High School. Yasu knocked lightly on the door.

“Come in.”

“Excuse me, sir? The people from Shibuya Psychic Research have arrived.” Yasu announced as he held the door. ‘This is their manager–”

“Look, I don’t need to know their names. Just fix the problem and do it quickly.” The principal snapped, cutting off Yasu. “Ghosts? I don’t believe it. It’s nonsense! What will the board of directors say when they hear that I’ve hired ghost chasers to handle this?” the man demands. Immediately, I can feel my entire expression shift. I already didn’t like the man after seeing how he looked at us, but now he was just being rude. He was the one hiring us, I personal would have no problem with leaving this high school to sort out its own problem.

‘But the poor students! They shouldn’t be punished because the principal is an asshole!’ Does it really sound like I give a shit? The students are probably the ones who got themselves into this situation. Something doesn’t get this wide spread without enough people being involved.

There was another man standing in the office. He was wearing a suit under a windbreaker and leaning against the window sill. He looked like even more of an asshole than the principal did, and that was saying something. “Yasu, why are you not in class?” he demanded, looking sternly at the student standing in front of us.

“I have a shortened schedule today, sir.”

The man was far from impressed. “Is that so.” It wasn’t phrased as a question, he was full on calling Yasu out on his alleged bullshit. Yasu however, kept a cool head and actually looked a bit _gleeful_ as he responded to the man’s unimpressed statement.

“I wouldn’t worry. But… if it’s alright, I’d like to keep this brief. I need to help them get settled, and I’d hate for it to cut into my studying time.” Yasu smiled, his eyes forming perfect crescents behind his glasses.

“Well, Yasu, you are one of our best students. I’d trust that you’re on top of things. Mr. Matsuyama, would you please show them to the conference room.” The man glared, but he nodded in ascent.

* * *

“So, you’re the one running this show? How old are you?” Matsuyama grumbled as he stalked down the hallway in front of us. I can already tell, this is going to be a fun job. By the look on Monk’s face, he agrees.

Naru doesn’t seem to be phased by the question though and calmly responds. “I’m seventeen.”

“And you’re not in school?” The man raised an eyebrow, clearly looking down on Naru for both his age and his profession. I’m really starting to hate this guy.

“I’ll leave that up to your imagination.”

Smooth.

Matsuyama just scoffed. “Tch, is that what you said to your parents when you decided to become a drop out?” he sneered over his shoulder. “I don’t know where this occult stuff comes from, but I do know that young minds are impressionable and people like you take full advantage of that. I’m not afraid to admit that the idea of you profiting off this scam makes me sick to my stomach. If it were _my_ choice, I would throw you out. Come, in here.” And then he threw open the door to a conference room. 

“This seems decent enough to set up base.” Monk said as he looked around the large room that we were allowed. “What’s up first?” Naru put a finger on his chin and looked up as he thought about our next course of action.

“Let’s see, why don’t we start by rounding up and talking to all the students that were involved.”

Yasu raised his hand, “I can get them for you if you’d like.” He offered easily, looking for all the world like he wants to be helpful. How cute.

“Just make sure you do it quickly.” Matsuyama said snootily, reclining in the chair that he was sitting in. “I have things to do myself.”

Naru turned and did a full 270 degree turn to look over at Matsuyama. “Actually, you’re free to go. Thank you for your help.”

“I’m staying here. It’s my job to manage and keep an eye on the students.” Wait. Hold up. Did he just say _manage the students_? What kind of school system bullshit is that? I literally went to multiple private schools, and never have I heard _this._ Father Fujimoto was the only one that came close, and that’s because we were dealing with the powers that could literally kill people. People’s lives were on the line, so I _kind of_ get why he was being an asshole about it.

This guy was just being an asshole to be an asshole.

Naru wasn’t having any of this guy’s bullshit though, so my temper was quelled. Slightly. “Once they’re involved in a haunting, the victim becomes a client of mine. And as my client, it’s imperative that I ensure their privacy.”

“Since when are children allowed privacy!” Matsuyama growled, his frown deepening. My upper lip began to curl into a snarl as I suppressed the strong urge to hiss at him. Monk must have felt my intensely radiating hatred because he placed his hand on my shoulder in an attempt to sooth or something. Matsuyama just kept on talking though, so my mood just continued to sour. “I can see what’s going on here, you’re trying to get rid of me because I make you uncomfortable.”

“A client is a client regardless of age. Now, please go.”

“I’d like to know what they were thinking by calling in some… _kid_ that believes in fairy tales to do a _man’s_ job!”

“Okay, then go and ask the principal.” Almost as soon as the words left Naru’s mouth, Monk and I nearly doubled over in laughter. Matsuyama looked gobsmacked, and his facial expression only made me want to laugh even harder. Even Yasu’s shoulders were beginning to shake with the strain of not laughing in this guy’s face.

Mom managed to stop snickering long enough to provide a follow up to Naru’s comment. “He’s right. The principal did hire us. Talk to him.”

Apparently, that was enough for Matsuyama, because he got up and made his way to the door. He looked like he was about to leave, but he turned around to get one last word in. “It’s fine by me. Let him be to blame when you kids destroy the school!” And then he slammed the door shut. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned heavily against the wall as I grumbled darkly.

“What the heck? That’s guys a fucking idiot. How’s he supposed to ‘manage’ the students when he can’t even manage himself. He may be ‘top dog’ around here but he needs to be housebroken.” I sneer, my words coming out closer to a growl the longer I talked. My ears twitched slightly – and I really though that I’d been getting over my thing about teachers.

Monk leaned away from me, my dark aura practically becoming visible and being the exact opposite of inviting. “You’re making a bit of a scene, Karma.” He backed off right away as I shot him with an absolutely venomous glare.

There was the sound of loud laughter from behind me. “Ha! Don’t worry about it!” Yasu called cheerfully, grinning at me. “He’s hilarious!”

“I’m impressed Naru, I was expecting you to unload on the guy any second.” Monk confessed suddenly, the laughter draining from his figure and leaving behind a rather solemn expression. I don’t know why he would think that Naru would ‘unload’ on any ‘client’ (by loose definition). He almost never lost his cool, and never so early in a case. “I was definitely fighting the urge.”

“There’s no use in lecturing a pig.” Naru said simply.

Yasu grinned, “It’s like you already know him!” he joked. Naru flipped through a couple pages in a notebook before snapping it shut and holding it out to Yasu.

“This is for you, Yasuhara-san.” Naru explained. “A list of all the students that have been involved so far.” That’s a lot of pages, this case looks to actually be pretty serious. “Once class has ended, bring them all to this room.” Yasuhara opened his mouth to answer, but then there was a shrill scream coming from just outside of our base.

In a second Monk had launched himself out of the room, “what was that?!” he demanded as we all ran down the hall to see a girl sagged against the wall. She was crying softly and staring horrified at the open door to the classroom. “What’s wrong? Are you alright?” Monk asked worriedly, kneeling beside the shaken girl. She raised a trembling hand and points towards the classroom that she’d apparently just been thrown out of.

“It’s… a _dog!”_

Sure enough, standing in the middle of an absolutely ruined classroom, was a glowing black dog. It had a deep purple aura and eyes that I can only describe as demonic. If I didn’t know better, I would say that it _was_ a demon coming to terrorize the humans. The desks were strewn about and the dog was snarling at the students gathered around the edges of the room in small fear-filled groups.

“The one we’re here for.” Naru hissed as the dog whirled around to snarl at us, it’s razor sharp teeth covered in glistening drool. With a loud bark, it ran towards the doorway and launched itself at Naru and Monk. They ducked just in time and the dog thing sailed over their heads and towards me and the girl. It fixed its eyes on us, and I moved in front of the girl and glared at it. Mere seconds before it hit us, it vanished into thin air.

“It’s gone!” Yasu whispered in shock as he stared at us. There was a crowd of terrified students down the hallway clambering around in terror as they watched two people almost get mauled by a spirit dog. Their wails were pissing me off, but I was still running high on adrenaline which was causing me to breath a bit heavily. Monk and Naru had been standing in the doorway and were also subsequently freaking out in their own ways and staring at the me and the girl.

The teacher standing with the students was quick to try and regain control over the situation. “Everyone! Get back to class!” They followed his orders, but the whispers didn’t stop.

I took that time to back out of my defensive crouch and move to comfort the terrified and injured girl behind me. Monk turned around and bent down to get a better look at us. “Hey, are you okay?” he asks gently, eyeing both me and the girl. He’d seen the dog almost hit me right in the face then.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I said, glancing over at Naru’s guarded concerned gaze. “But she… needs medical attention.” I say, reaching forwards gently to assess the rather large bite on the girl’s leg. “I’m trained in first aid, I’ll do my best to help until the professionals can arrive.” I tell her gently before reaching into my inside coat pocket and procuring a small first aid kit. I just had some basic anti-septic and some bandages, but it should be enough to take care of the heavily bleeding bite mark for now. The girl just kept on sobbing quietly as I quickly cleaned the wound and began to put pressure on it in an attempt to get the bleeding to slow.

“I’ll carry her,” Yasuhara offers as he moves to pick up the girl now that I had covered the wound.

But Naru wasn’t done here. “Yasuhara! I need you to group the students together depending on the incident, then bring them back to the conference room here.” All work no play makes Naru a very dull boy.

“Will do.”

As we made our way down the hallway towards the entrance of the school, I couldn’t help but remark “it didn’t waste any time getting started, did it.”

* * *

There were so many victims of the hauntings at this school that it took until late evening for us to finish the interviews. And that was when we were doing multiple people at a time. In fact, we were just interviewing the last group of students. “You’ve said you’re afraid to come to school because of ghosts in the classrooms. Can you tell me why you feel that way?” Naru asked calmly, looking at the girl that had taken the middle of the three seats available across from him.

“Y-yes sir. But… it wasn’t just a regular classroom. I was in a language lab listening to a tape that I had made the night before. It was for a homework assignment. As I listened, I could hear this strange noise – it was a lot of static. But then there was laughter? It sounded like a child. So I fiddled with the audio controls to try and find out what it was when I suddenly had this feeling. I don’t know why I did it, but I looked down under the desk. It was pitch black, and that was the first thing that tipped me off, but then I got this really uneasy feeling. Only a moment later, a small hand reached up from the darkness and touched my knee. A split second later, a smiling child appeared attached to the hand. It looked… warped. His smile was unnaturally wide and there was this _look_ in his eye. I screamed.”

The girl shuddered and clenched her eyes shut as she recounted her story. “I tried to tell the teacher about it, but she refused to believe me. I swear I’m telling the truth.” She began to cry softly into her hands, the rest of the girls standing around her looked equally as haunted. This had clearly been going on for a long time. Naru leaned forwards in intrigue.

“Did anyone else happen to see this boy?”

Another girl leaned down, putting a supportive hand on the other girl’s shoulder. “We’ve all seen him. It’s no secret, and I know that everyone in class has heard him.”

Someone else nodded. “We all told the teacher how we afraid we were, but she thought that were just trying to get out of class. That’s when we decided to stay home from school.”

“So, there’s a child spirit hiding in the language lab.” Monk remarked as made careful notes in his own little notebook. He had seen me pull out my case book and immediately went to grab his own during the interviews. He took many more notes than I did, however, the ones that I did end up taking were far more detailed.

Naru looked down at his own notes before turning once more to the girls. “Okay, are there any other strange occurrences that have happened here at school?”

The girls all exchanged uncertain looks before they began to speak up. “Yeah, there’s the unopened locker.”

“And the anatomy locker that breaks apart when no one’s there.”

“Weird sounds in the music room.”

“They say that when you open the incinerator door, an old man’s face appears upside down.”

“Oh, and in the nurse’s office. In the second to last bed, there’ll suddenly be someone in it.”

Well, that was a lot to unpack. Naru’s pen practically didn’t stop moving as he wrote down every incident that the girl’s offered up. Monk’s face was panicked as he tried to imitate Naru’s speedy scrawl. I was honestly just floored by how much activity was happening at this school. From all the cases that we’ve done, this was much more than all the others. Even Yuasa High School hadn’t had as many different tales.

“I heard someone say that they’d seen Sakauchi.” Everyone went silent at the mention of the name, and that immediately peaked my interest. Who was Sakauchi, and why was his name important? This was the first time that someone had been mentioned by name – even the girls being interviewed refused to give us their names out of fear.

“I heard that too. They passed him in the hallways or something.”

“I heard that he was seen in a classroom.”

So, this wasn’t an isolated instant then. Sakauchi, whoever he is (was?), is somehow important enough to have multiple occurrences. This isn’t like with the others where it seemed to be impersonal. Everyone knew his name. Now I understand that it doesn’t take all that much to have your name known around a school – especially one that was smaller like this one (it had less than Kunugikaoka had) – but this seemed different. The name wasn’t spoken with the disdain of someone hated, or even the awe of someone that had been well liked. No, it was spoken with fear and even a tinge of sorrow.

“Sakauchi. Who is that?” Naru asked, putting down his notebook and leaning forward, taking in the teary looks that everyone seemed to have.

The girl sitting in the seat farthest to the left looked down before offering up an answer. “Um. He was a freshman that went here. He committed suicide.” I felt more than saw Monk flinch from where he stood beside me. I couldn’t blame him – suicide was never a fun topic, and it was especially not nice when the person succeeded. But I feel that it was Sakauchi’s age, that really broke down his defenses. “All of this weird stuff started happening sometime last fall. It was right after… Sakauchi decided to take his own life. I mean, if you look at the timing of the whole thing, it can’t all just be a coincidence. And when you think about the suicide note he left, it’s even more chilling.”

Naru looked up sharply. “What did it say.”

“Just one sentence: ‘I’m not a dog’.”

Fuck. That’s… I’ve heard that before, haven’t I. Before Naru decided to take this case, I’d been hearing this whispered in the back of my mind for weeks. _Fuck._

“Do you know what it could mean?” Naru asked.

The girl nodded softly. “Yeah, I think I do know what it means.” She whispered. “Everyone that goes to this school has thought about it. I do all the time.” She confesses, looking away from Naru’s piercing gaze. Even without going to this school, I understood. It’s just one of those things that’s kind of universal when you have that much stress mixed with high school. High school fucking sucks, and a lot times, teachers fucking suck too.

* * *

“Hey, did either of you two notice how much they hate school?” Monk asked a couple minutes after the girls had left the base. He looked to be thinking rather seriously about this. The story of Sakauchi’s suicide really got to him.

“Yeah? So?” To be honest, it all seemed pretty standard to me, I mean, who doesn’t hate school in this day and age?

“You tell me. You’re the one in high school.” He pointed out. “Think about it, the uniforms, the hairstyles. It’s like none of these kids are allowed to express themselves. I mean I haven’t seen one kid here with bleached hair, have you?” he looked pointedly at my own hair.

I glared at him and placed my hands on my hips as I stared at him unimpressed. “Okay first of all, this is my natural hair, second of all, I don’t go to high school anymore? I skipped some grades and graduated early, Monk. And thirdly, bleached hair was out a long time ago.” I smirk at his facial expression. He looked suitably cowed and a bit sheepish.

“Geez Karma, how old do you think I am?” he asks incredulously.

“Wanna know?”

“ _No, I don’t_.”

I looked away to conceal my grin. Ah, bringing up age with both him and Ayako was always an event. They always reacted so hilariously! “Oh… fine.”

“The point I’m trying to make is that this school seems to have some very strict rules. Just look at the principal and that Matsuyama guy. They act like they’re running a boot camp, not a high school. For a lot of these kids, school is where they spend most of their time. And with so much pressure from the staff, the stress has got to get to them.” Monk said, looking off into the distance dramatically.

I mean… _I guess_. “Well, I’ve gone to private schools since middle school, and it’s sort of always been like this. Not even the really smart kids enjoy school anymore – it just fucking sucks ya know? Learning ain’t the problem, it’s the teachers and the atmosphere.” I explain, looking up at the somber Monk. Suddenly he whipped his head around to stare at me in shock and horror. “What did I do?” I ask suddenly. Was it me making him aware of how shitty the mental health of the general teenage population was? ‘Cause I thought that he knew?

“Karma! You shouldn’t curse!”

Well that’s far from what I expected. “Monk… I’m a university student.” I say slowly. He was upset by the fact that I was cursing??? Really? Of all the shit that he’s seen or heard me do over the year, and _that_ is what bothers him. Wow.

Monk flushed a bright red and glared at me. I simply smirk and resist the urge to just list of a long string of every curse word that I’d learned over the years to make him uncomfortable. Luckily for my self-control, that’s when the door to the base slid open to reveal Yasu. He took a seat across from Naru and stared expectantly.

Naru raised an eyebrow. “Yasuhara-san, are you a victim of this haunting as well?”

“Yes. I am.”

Oh things just keep getting more and more interesting, don’t they? Naru folded his hands in front of him as he stared Yasu down. “Great. Could you tell me everything you remember about the experience?”

“Well, it actually started just this morning when an awful nauseating smell came into our classroom. It was like none of the teachers could smell it, but everyone in the class was covering their noses and struggling not to gag. One kid couldn’t handle it and ran from the room and the teacher ordered me to go after him. Until that moment it hadn’t been all that bad for me, but as soon as I stood up I collapsed. The smell was that overpowering. It was unbelievable.”

“That’s horrible!” Monk murmured. I had to agree – as someone with a very strong sense of smell, I knew just how easily overpowering a scent could be. This was beginning to sound more serious than what we originally assumed. The sheer number of incidents… what was happening here?

In the end, Naru decided that we would pay a visit to classroom 3-1, to check out what exactly was happening there. This wasn’t going to be a good idea, but I was so sure that I could handle it. “Now, get ready, because it’s pretty rank.” Yasu warned as he opened the door for us. It only took a moment for the scent to hit us, and I immediately lost all composure as the intense scent hit me. “Can you smell it?” I heard Yasu say somewhere in the distance. The scent was just so overpowering and the only thing that I could really hear was the blood rushing past my ears.

“Man, that’s nasty. It smells like a fish that’s been left in the sun for a couple of days!”

My vision went fuzzy and the next thing I know there’s arms supporting my limp body as my legs tried to collapse out from under me. “Woah! Karma are you okay?” I heard Monk ask in a nasally voice, he had his hand covering his nose as well. I pressed my own hand to cover my nose and mouth, desperately trying to block out or at least dampen the foul smell. I curl in slightly to the person holding me up, a bit surprised to see that Naru had seemingly materialized out of nowhere just in time to catch me. I shook slightly in his arms as my brain tried to make sense of all the data it was receiving.

“It’s a birth defect, my sense of smell is incredibly strong – think dog level. In fact, I have hypersensitivity, and all of this is an incredibly overwhelming experience.” I explained weakly, my hand pressed over my nose and mouth, muffling my voice as I spoke. Naru was practically supporting my entire weight as I sagged helplessly. He gently coaxed me to my feet and began to lead me towards the window that one of the other student in the room had frantically opened as soon as they saw me collapse. I leaned against the glass gratefully, breathing in the fresh air desperately.

Naru looked around as he helped support me. “The odor doesn’t seem to be coming from a specific place.” He observed, looking around the classroom at the students still milling around despite class clearly being over. 

Yasu’s face lit up. “Yeah, exactly. It’s almost as if the air itself is causing it.”

Naru’s grip tightened slightly on my shoulders as I sagged a bit more. “Have you been doing anything here?” he asked sharply. What did he mean by that? What on earth could they have done to cause this smell? Hidden bodies in the floorboards???

“Um… I’m not sure what you mean…” Yasu trailed off awkwardly, but Naru wasn’t pulling any punches right now. 

“Séances perhaps?” Yasu just looked stunned, like he couldn’t even fathom what Naru was implying. It was a surprising to see Yasuhara show such an honest motion.

 _“He’s talking about Orikiri-sama.”_ Everyone’s gaze flew to the two girls standing behind Yasu. They were whispering, but it wasn’t exactly the subtlest, even Monk and Naru could hear it, and the both of them were standing by the window with me.

“No, you dummy! He’s not!” the other girl hissed. The classroom went silent and everyone just stared at the two girls.

Yasu turned to look at Naru. I had finally managed to get a handle on the sensory overload and Naru was helping me over so that I could sit down on a desk while he approached so as to better hear “It’s a popular game; started a little over a year ago. It’s called Orikiri-sama.” He explained.

“Oh! I’ve got one right here!” one of the girls offered, pulling out a sheet of paper and handing it over to Monk. “It hasn’t even been used yet.”

Monk had a stormy look on his face as he glared at the two girls. He shoved the paper at me before rounding on the two students. “You two were Ouija boarding?” he demanded. I’d never seen Monk look quite this angry or stern, I was used to him being a big ol’ softy. This… he actually looked threatening. I weakly clutched the paper in my hand, staring in awe at the various designs written on the paper. It looked intricate as fuck, and not something that was created on a whim. The amount of detail that was put into this… whoever invented it did a lot of research.

The two girls looked offended at Monk’s accusation. “No, Ouija boarding is used to summon foxes, but Orikiri-sama summons gods instead!” The girl insisted, looking real proud of herself. I’d never messed with a Ouija board before, but even I knew that that as complete bogus! “They help you find your true love and stuff.” Okay, but why would summoning gods be any better? If you look back into some of Japanese mythology (any mythology really) you’ll find that gods are more often than not, cruel and malevolent. Why would you trust them?

“Cupid, Angel, Hanako; they’re alternate names for Ouija boarding. No matter what name you give them, they’re all one and the same. Playing games with spirits just for the fun of it is dangerous and wrong.”

“But… I though because Orikiri-sama uses gods that means it’s safe.” The girl looked stricken. Well that was a dumb assumption to make. Never trust gods to help – it literally looks like a Ouija board, why on earth would it be safe?

Monk looked enraged as he practically yelled at the girls. “That’s where you’re wrong! Any amateur can summon a spirit, but sending one back takes training! Never do it again!” Monk scowled before stomping off towards the desks and placing a gentle supportive hand on my back. I guess I’d started to sway again. I carefully lifted the collar of my shirt and buried the lower half of my face in it. It didn’t do much, but it was enough to keep my mind from fogging up.

“He said it was popular. How many use it?” Naru asked the girls.

“Well uh, pretty much everyone at school.”

The other girl nodded in agreement. “Honestly? I’d be surprised if anyone at this school didn’t use it.”

Naru’s eyes narrowed, before he turned around and moved to leave the room. Without thinking anything odd of his abrupt exit, Monk helped me up and then we left the classroom too. “We need to ask around to see who’s done it and who hasn’t.” I mutter, my strength slowly but surely returning the farther we got from the room.

* * *

“I’m back! Almost everyone I’ve talked to says that they’ve done it at least once.” I called as I re-entered the base. After leaving class 3-1, we’d all split up to ask around. Yasu had helpfully pointed out which rooms would smell the strongest, so it was a simple matter for me to avoid them.

“I spoke to some who do it multiple times a day,” Yasu agreed.

I turned to look at him, honestly still surprised that he was here. It was getting late after all, and he was still a student that had classes. “Um, are you okay with doing so much work for us?” He grinned happily and tilted his head to the side like a puppy.

“Yeah!”

Monk wasn’t feeling the enthusiasm though. He was still hung up on the Ouija board thing. “Oh man! This is way worse than I though! The entire student body is Ouija boarding! How many spirits do you think that we’re dealing with here?” Was it really that bad? “This school’s like a cattle car crammed to capacity.” Well, he was right in more ways than one. Monk turned to look over at Naru who was leaning against the window and watching us report our findings and theories. “Are you prepared for what’s to come, Naru? Using Ouija boards incorrectly can dredge up some really nasty stuff, and I am _not_ looking forward to it.”

Yasu then decides to open his mouth. “I hope you can do some–” But Monk cuts him off rather aggressively.

“Oh! I know! I’ll teach you how to drive out spirits, so you can do it! Yeah right! That’s it, sound good to you?” I glare at him, tapping my foot in annoyance and the taller man was quick to move to hide behind the teen that he was just harassing. “Stop it, I’m a pacifist.”

“Of all the schools in Japan, how many do you think take part in Ouija boarding?” Naru’s voice cuts across the room.

“I would assume not many, so I see how odd it must seem that so many practice it here.” Yasu allows, looking a bit oddly at Naru. Everyone was a bit lost here.

Naru shook his head, “just because a group of kids hold an amateur séance, doesn’t mean a spirit would be summoned. Now let’s assume that someone succeeded in calling a spirit. And if that spirit happened to be a very strong one, I could see it doing some damage; be it physical or mental. But I just can’t see it happening on such a wide scale.”

I tuck the small Orikiri-sama page carefully into my case book and look up at the others. “So, playing with a Ouija board can really summon spirits?” It was a legitimate question – there’s so much stigma and rumour surrounding Ouija boarding that it’s damn near impossible to find a straight answer on how they work and why.

Monk looked over at me concerned. “Yeah, if you’re a spiritualist.” He didn’t know where I was going with this and why I was even asking in the first place. To be quite honest, I really didn’t know either.

“Well back in high school, one of my idiot friends went through a phase and he insisted on using a Ouija board. Of course, as soon as the coin started moving he freaked the fu- hell out,” I corrected myself, glancing awkwardly at Monk before continuing. “That seemed like it was pretty legit, I mean, there has to be some truth in Ouija boarding right? There was an entire club dedicated to dark magic at that school…” I trail off.

Yasuhara deadpanned at me. “Wait… your high school had a _dark magic_ club?”

I shrug. “Private school kids are weird.” Yasu couldn’t exactly argue with that so he dropped it.

Naru looked up. “Try this; hold your finger over the desk and keep it still.” I shrug and do as asked, it wasn’t like this was a hardship. I was literally just placing my finger on the table and holding it still. “It’s shaking, keep it still.” What? I looked down, and surely enough, my finger was trembling ever so slightly. It was only a visible tremor if you looked really closely. “When you have several people doing that at the same time, the vibrations of each finger work together to move the coin. Since none of you are trying to move your finger, the movement of the kind seems mysterious.”

“It sounds to me like you don’t have that much faith in the ancient art of Ouija boarding.” Monk grumbled, finally coming out from where he’d been hiding behind Yasuhara.

“My basic philosophy is that spirits only know two things that living beings do not. Death, and the world that comes after death.”

That was surprisingly deep. I mean, technically speaking, it was true. Garry had never really talked about it… but death… there was only so many possibilities. And knowing death, well, that’s something I’d rather avoid. I’ve had my fair share of dying on the operating table. “I guess that’s true.”

“Be that as it may, there are so many spirits to deal with here that I honestly don’t know where to start.” Naru confessed, flipping through a very impressive stack of interview notes. “We may have to wait until they all come together, and then throw whatever we can at them and see what sticks.” His eyes flicker over to me before resettling on the table in front of them. So, he wanted to see if my powers would work on spirits and this was the best chance to.

I mean it was something that I really need to check – maybe I won’t be complete useless on cases. Well, besides my intuition and dreams anyways.

Unfortunately, at least for now, it’s a waiting game.

* * *

It was dark by the time Lin and Ayako arrived with the van and the equipment that Naru requested. All the same, I wish it had been longer, because the first thing that Ayako did upon getting into the base was complain to me.

“No hotel!” Ayako shrieked indignantly. “You mean to tell me that I road 3 hours in the backseat of Lin’s car, and now I have to sleep on a cot in a room with a busted heater for the entire investigation?” She nearly shrieked.

I rubbed my ear, as I stared up at Ayako bemused. “Calm down, Ayako.”

“You probably won’t understand, but this has been a very long trip.” She gripped my shoulders, shaking me slightly. “You should try being cooped up in a car with Lin for 3 hours; a man who seems to pride himself on not uttering a single word to his passengers. It’s maddening.” I mean… I have done that? I just popped in my earbuds and got a lot of work done while Naru and Lin sat in the front in silence. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. I definitely preferred it to driving my motorcycle for the entire journey. I could even sleep if I wanted to, as long as I wasn’t disruptive.

“Fine, okay!” I say, “but you’re still better off than us guys are. With Masako only two of you are sharing a room, as soon as John get’s here, us guys will have to share a room smaller than yours. I have half a mind to just crash in the base, so I don’t disturb people. I can basically sleep anywhere anyways.” Ayako deflated at my announcement and took a heavy seat while Naru wheeled over a white board and began to do a recap of our situation.

On the white board was various papers held up with magnets. A quick glance reveals that the papers are the most inclusive interview notes, as well as some handwritten notes about the case that Naru had made. Think evidence board from a crime show. “Here’s where we stand; there are too many eye witness reports and not enough equipment. When Ms. Hara arrives, I’ll see if she can confirm the presence of spirits. Once we know that they’re here, I’ll have John, Takigawa, and Ms. Matsuzaki ready for exorcisms. Lin and I will investigate anything that seems uncertain or vague, and I’ll have Karma relay the information and watch over the base. Just be sure to report to me if anything happens.”

I tilt my head to the side. “Like what?”

Monk rolled his eyes before smiling down at me. “Well you’re the sixth sense guy, aren’t you? Wasn’t it just a few cases ago that you were told that you have latent ESP powers?”

Oh. That’s right. “I guess I forgot.” I say simply. I didn’t forget, but what does he want me to report exactly? That’s the question that I had. Was I supposed to tell him every time my instincts said that there was something funky going on? On cases like this I was almost always on edge during a case. And my dreams… well I guess I was going to report it to him anyways because of how I suspect that I see Gene, but still.

“Wait hold on a second, you’re clairvoyant like they are?” Yasu asked incredulously, staring at me wide eyed. “I thought you were just normal like me.”

I cross an arm over my chest and smirk at him. “I wouldn’t say that I’m normal.” Really, I’ve never been a normal kid. Even by my physical appearance alone, I wasn’t normal. Really, if you consider the past like… 16 years of my life, I have never been normal. Well shit.

“Certainly not! In our last few cases, you’ve even been of some use, haven’t you?” Ayako snorted, beginning to laugh in a very exaggerated manner.

I sniffed, channeling my inner Masako. “I think criticism should only be given by those who have actually done things towards solving a case.” I sneer, checking over my nails to seem like more of a bitch. If I had an apple I would have taken a large bite out of it just for effect. I don’t even like apples. Ayako just kept on fake laughing, although it did get a bit more strained at how cool I was being about her jibe.

Yasu raised an eyebrow before laughing good naturedly. “Well you two get along well!”

“Hey wait, don’t you need to get home, Yasuhara? It’s getting late,” I point out, looking up at him oddly. Every other student (and faculty members) in the building had cleared out nearly an hour before, but Yasu was still here.

“No. I was actually just thinking that I could run errands for you guys if you wanted me to.” He grinned much to Monk’s chagrin. The man did an admirable imitation of Tamaki as he drooped over in the corner mumbling under his breath.

Naru looked up from his white board where he’d been brooding for the past 15 minutes. “Thanks, Yasuhara-san. We’re grateful for all of the help that you’ve given us today, but I think it’d be best if you didn’t stay the night. It’s dangerous.”

“Of course! Hey, if I’m overstepping my boundaries, please let me know and I’ll leave.”

That’s when Naru got this look in his eyes as he glanced over at us and then back at the board before settling his gazed on Yasu once more. “On second thought, maybe you could give us a hand tonight.”

* * *

“Alright! We set up these mics around the building in case we pick up any weird sounds.” I instruct as I pat the microphone lightly. Naru had seen the chance for free labour and had assigned Yasu to help me set up equipment around the building. I was more than strong enough to carry all of this shit on my own, but you know; appearances. Yasu was to make sure that I didn’t drop anything and to speed up the process. All the same, he asked a lot of questions.

“Oh,” he said thoughtfully. “Do all spiritualists use such high-tech equipment?”

I smirked. “Some do, but not many. By the way, Naru’s not a spiritualist. He would rather refer to himself as a ghost hunter.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of them!” Yasu said before looking off into the distance. “Sakauchi. The boy who committed suicide. On the career assessment form that he filled out before coming to this school, he put down that ghost hunter was his ideal job. At the time I though it was a joke.” That’s… kind of strange. I guess he was interested in this thing. The boy that wanted to be a ghost hunter… I wonder what he’d think if he could see us here now.

A chill ran down my spine and out of the very corner of my eye I saw something. It was a figure standing in a white button up and school uniform slacks, just standing in the doorway, like he was watching us. In a second, I had whipped around to look at the doorway, but there was no one there. I’d have to tell Naru that I was seeing things then.

“Is something wrong?”

I jolted, whipping back around to look at Yasu who was staring at me in concern. “I could’ve sworn I just saw somebody standing there…” I mumble, staring at the doorway for a moment and getting lost in my thoughts. It was just out of the corner of my eyes – that place where you never want to look because you see things that you don’t want to see. In this case, it would seem that I was able to see Sakauchi.

“Hello? Alright Chief, where do we go to set up next. It’s your call!” Yasu said cheerfully, beginning to gather the equipment up in his arms.

“Well, let’s see.” I say as I pull out the piece of paper that Naru had handed me. “People have been hearing cats meowing in the gym, right?” I check over the list of places along with the equipment that was required at each place. Yup, the gym looked to be the next place that we’d have to visit.

“Whatever, let’s just get this over with. It’s kinda creepy being at school at night with no one around. I’ve never handled the scary stuff too well.”

* * *

“So why did you call me ‘Chief’ back there.” I look over at Yasu curiously.

He placed a thoughtful hand on his chin and looked up as if thinking real hard about what he wanted his answer to be. “Well the way I see it, I’m working for you right? But I guess… I could call you ‘Boss’.” He grinned a Cheshire cat grin. “And then I’d have to call Mr. Shibuya ‘Big Boss’ – I’ll think of something.” That cheeky little fuck.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the image of Naru’s face if Yasu actually called him that. “I have the feeling that he’d love that. You totally nailed it!” Knowing Naru, he actually _would_ find it hilarious, if only because the reaction that the others would have.

“It’s so amazing that you can be so relaxed at a time like this.” Yasu remarked suddenly as we continued to make our way through the dark hallways. “How do you do it?”

I shrugged, looking around for the signs that we need to follow. “Well I’ve been doing this for a while now, and so far, this case isn’t all that bad. The last case I was on I got possessed, and the case before that I was dragged down into the sewers. The case before that I fell down a well. There’s a lot of occupational hazards, but this isn’t my first rodeo, and despite what the others will have you believe, I know what I’m doing. I may be inexperienced with spirits, but I’m not a complete novice.”

Yasuhara’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. “You were possessed? You _fell down a well and into sewers???”_ I just chuckled and began to tell the story of the Yuasa High School case.

* * *

_Everything around me was dark. The only source of light emanating from around my feet, and it was a deep poisonous purple. I felt a deep sense of unease as I walked through the blackness. Just a second ago I was walking with Yasu and setting up equipment. Man, it would suck if I just passed out in the hallways._

_And because this was the dream world, the ground began to materialize under my feet. It was concrete, and about 20 feet away, there was a railing overlooking the abyss. Around me swirled an absolutely awful laughing sound. I moved forwards, intrigued by the sound. There was a boy standing by the railing, leaning on it and looking down past it._

_He was wearing a white button up and school uniform slacks. He was the source of the laughter. The closer I got to the figure, the more I was sure that it was Sakauchi – the boy that had been watching me and Yasu just moments before. I made my way over to stand beside him, looking over the railing to see that we were looking down at the school. We must be on the roof then; did he jump off? I looked around, there was no sign of Dream N- Eugene yet._

_Just like my other dreams before, small white orbs begin to rise and swirl around me. Hundreds of thousands of them – I’ve never seen that many before. I turn to look over at Sakauchi. “Hey, do you know what all those little lights are?”_

_He just continues to laugh. “Of course, I do – that’s why it’s so fun.” I stare at him for a moment, frozen in place by his cold crazed gaze. It reminded me a lot of eyes I’ve seen before. You know what they say, if you live long enough, you start seeing the same eyes in different people. It’s more some kinds of people have the same eyes, after all, you don’t have to live all that long to see the same look of hopelessness – just walk around a high school._

_But it was a nice thought._

_“So much fun. There’s nothing in the whole world that feels better than this.”_


	14. File 5 - Part 2

When I came to, it was to the sound of a quiet conversation. “–don’t know what happened, he just collapsed in the middle of the hallway. We were on our way back after setting up the gym and then he was out like a light.”

“This happens often, don’t think too much about it. Part of his clairvoyant powers are linked to instincts. I believe he might be able to develop medium like powers, and spiritual emotions affect him. He’s very sensitive to their presence already, and it’s only a matter of time until his powers grow.”

“Really? Karma lead me to believe that he’s nothing special, and you haven’t exactly mentioned anything either.”

“Right now, it’s all speculation. He’s had psychic dreams before. The only thing that we can do when he gets dragged under is make sure that he doesn’t hurt himself. I’ll take it from here. Get some sleep, Yasuhara-san.”

“Alright, Big Boss. I’ll be here bright and early tomorrow!” Footsteps echoed and then a door clicked shut softly.

I recognized those voices. That was Naru and Yasu, talking about… me? Specifically, my powers? How odd, Naru was telling Yasu more about his predictions for my psychic development than he did me. I was laying down on something. Well laying down might be a little too generous. It was more like I was slumped in a reclined position on what felt like one of the base chairs. I felt heavy though, so I couldn’t even shift to get myself into a more comfortable position. I was cold too. All in all, not a nice place to sleep, but I doubt that Naru will move me.

But nope, that’s definitely hands. Naru was picking me up bridal style and slowly but surely moving across the room. He gently put me down on what felt like a couch – I didn’t know that the base had a couch, but I didn’t spend all that much time looking around so I wasn’t all that surprised that I didn’t know there was a couch in the base – and carefully adjusted my limbs so that I wasn’t sprawled out awkwardly. My head was pillowed on the arm of the chair, and then there was something heavy being draped over my upper body.

Naru didn’t speak at all during this, and for a moment, I wasn’t really sure that this was real. That little bit of uncertainty only grew when I felt a warm pressure on my forehead. The hand brushed my hair around slightly, probably making an effort to cover my ears. And then the touch vanished, quickly pursued by soft footsteps.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up on the couch behind the small screen divider in the base. Naru’s jacket was draped across me like a blanket.

* * *

[January]

[Day 3]

“You don’t see any spirits?” Monk asked scandalized. We were all sitting around the main tables in the base in an ‘L’ formation. John and Masako had arrived an hour or two ago and we’d just finished briefing them after Masako did a quick walk through. Yasuhara had arrived about half an hour ago, and as of yet, he still hadn’t mentioned anything from last night. Not even to me. And since he didn’t mention it, and Naru didn’t mention it; I didn’t mention it.

Yasuhara was a good actor, and Naru had his stoic thing going for him, but I knew how to fuck with people. If they don’t bring it up, then it never happened.

“Well you did just get here, so maybe that’s it.” Monk continued as he stared wide eyed at the medium. “Should we give you a minute to settle in?”

Masako glanced down, “just because I can’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not here.” She pointed out. “I do feel their presence though.”

I roll my shoulder lightly as I look absently around the room. “That’s a pity, you’re the only one of us that can see spirits.” I don’t look over at Naru as I say this. He claims that there’s a chance for me to develop medium powers, but I really don’t think I’ll get that far. The dreams are more than enough. That reminds me; “hey Naru. I forgot to tell you, but I had a dream last night. It’s Sakauchi – he hasn’t left. I saw him in one of the classrooms last night, and then in the dream Sakauchi brought me to the roof of the school. He was laughing like a madman at the sight of the amount of spirits here, and from what I saw, we have our work cut out for us. They’re everywhere.” I ramble slightly.

“Noted.”

I looked up around the table to see that the others were all looking at me with varying degrees of shock. John, Monk, and Ayako were staring with stunned expressions on their faces – they probably didn’t expect my latent ESP to develop any further than it already had. Yasuhara had had a bit of warning from Naru last night, so his response was a bit more muted, but I could still tell that me seeing Sakauchi had shocked him. The look on his face told me that yeah, Sakauchi had killed himself by jumping off the roof of the school.

However, it was Masako’s considering gaze that I payed the most attention to. She was looking at me like there was a possibility of her respecting me. So psychic prowess is what got the little princess’ attention. Monk crossed his arms and looked like a pouting child. “Then this case is not going to be easy.”

“Now hold on, let’s give Masako a chance to settle in like you said.” John said, ever the voice of reason.

“But you are able to sense their presence.” Naru continued pressing forwards, glancing at me as he did. He was confirming my information.

Masako nodded demurely. “Yes, I can feel an abundance of spirits around the school, much like Karma’s dream. What type of spirits I can’t say for sure.

“Come on, just try harder.” Monk insisted.

Masako stuck her nose in the air and seemed content to stay silent, but then her head snapped to the side and she seemingly stared through the wall. “Wait… I see something, but I can’t quite make it out. It’s like static on television.” I followed her gaze, but carefully looking out of the corner of my eye (I found that it was easier to _see_ if I didn’t look directly, they tended to avoid my gaze less when I didn’t look at them) and I was surprised to see the figure of Sakauchi.

“Great, so we can’t rely on you. Thanks for the help.” Ayako smirked, looking very satisfied with herself.

Masako covered her mouth with her sleeve as she responded to Ayako’s taunt. “Matsuzaki-san, we all know that you’re the last person with any grounds to say _that_.”

Ayako began to rant, but she was cut off by Masako returning her gaze to the spot that I had been staring at. Sakauchi is still there. “But I see something else too, and the spirit has an incredibly strong presence.”

“What else can you tell us about him?” Naru asks, giving me the side eye as my entire body perks up like how a dog perks up when it sees a squirrel. Because that’s what I’m reduced to; looking like a dog after seeing a squirrel, except for me it’s with spirits. Fuck, Naru’s medium theory might not be that far off.

“Definitely a boy, he’s about the same age as I am, maybe a year younger.” She turns to look at me, getting confused at my single-minded focus on the area just beside the door. She followed my gaze to the spot for a moment before slowly sliding it back towards the others.

Monk leaned forwards, intrigued and not paying any attention to anything but Masako’s words. “That would put him at about the age of 16.”

“I sense some very strong emotion from him. He’s had a very bad experience happen at this school.” Masako continued, her gaze slowly sliding over to me. I barely noticed it, I couldn’t look away from Sakauchi’s blurry form. Somehow, my head had turned so that I was no longer burning a whole through him out of the corner of my eyes. Instead he was meeting my gaze with a small smirk on his lips. He knew that I could see him. “It’s like he’s being held captive by the school.”

The longer that I stared, the more in focus he became. Sakauchi’s smirk grew as he took a step forward, and then another, slowly approaching me. I unconsciously shoved my chair back, standing up and beginning to back away as he approached. This didn’t go unnoticed by the others. My ears wouldn’t stop twitching as I held a hand in front of myself in a defensive motion. “Masako, do you see him.” I whisper, not daring to remove my eyes from the spirit in front of me. He turned around to smirk at Masako and then returned to stalking towards me.

Masako frowned, “I’m afraid he’s only showing himself to you. I know that there’s something here, but he is choosing to hide himself from me.” That wasn’t good. Not at all. That means that he’d been the one to initiate that dream. He’d intentionally tried to communicate with me.

“Karma, what do you see?” Naru asked, getting up from his own seat and walking around the table to move closer but I held out a hand in his direction.

“It’s Sakauchi. He’s here.”

And then as if pleased with my statement, Sakauchi stopped his advance. He raised his hand and waved slightly before suddenly his body collapsed into a bloody heap on the floor. Limbs were twisted at awkward angles, and with the speed of the drop, blood went flying. Just like that, I could see just how Sakauchi looked when he hit the ground after jumping off of the roof. The body lay on the ground, completely unmoving, and if not for the slight purple glow, I would think that it was real. His skull was shattered, and blood seeped from the areas where bone had broken through the skin in his limbs. He looked like a bug that had been splattered against a windshield.

I flinch backwards, bumping into my chair lightly. It was far from the most gruesome thing that I’d seen, but all the same, it wasn’t pleasant. I felt the phantom blood splatter drip down my cheek and I resisted the urge to wipe it off. I know that there’s nothing there. Sakauchi’s not powerful enough for that if he had to resort to scare tactics like this. It was all just an illusion.

But I still felt the warm blood on my face.

Masako stared at me for a moment before jumping backwards in shock. “Karma! Is… is that blood?” she gasped, staring at my cheek in horror. But only she could see it, as all the others looked at me and her in confusion. I reached up to touch my cheek and wiped my finger down it dramatically slow before looking at my hand. My fingers were covered in blood.

“It would appear so.” I breath slightly, closing my eyes and clenching my hand into a fist, feeling the blood run down my hand. “He jumped.”

Naru stares at me for a moment, cataloguing both Masako’s and my reaction to this event. “Hara-san, can you see anything other than the blood on Karma’s face?” he asked, moving closer to me now that I wasn’t backing away any more.

“I see a vague shape of a figure lying on the floor. He’s blurry, but there’s a large pool of blood around his body.” She said, looking down at the body for a moment before looking away from the massacre. Naru’s facial expression didn’t change, but he did move forwards and hold his notebook in front of me.

With the way that I was standing, none of the others would be able to see it. On the open page, there was Sakauchi’s school photo, along with a police report and some newspaper clippings – all detailing information about Sakauchi’s suicide. At the very bottom, were pictures of the scene that was found. “Is this what you see?” he asks softly.

It was identical to what Sakauchi chose to show me. “Yes.” I confirm as Naru pulls his notebook away. “So, it would seem that Masako isn’t necessarily the only one of us that can see spirits.” I grumble. I did not want to be a medium, and the fact that it proves Naru right only annoys me more. Naru nods grimly.

“I’m not so sure that he’s being held captive by the school.” Naru states, looking up at the others as he places a hand on my shoulder. Sakauchi is looking up at me now, smirking widely despite the shattered appearance his face had taken on. Then he simply sunk through the floor and I could no longer see him.

Monk looked over at me sharply, seemingly reassessing something. “Are you saying that this kid is responsible for all of this?”

Naru ignored the question and instead turned to look at Lin who was currently sitting in his technology hub and looking through all of the footage. “Lin, how did last night look?”

“There were several places with temperature drops,” he reported. “It was especially pronounced in classrooms 3-1, 2-4, and the language lab. No unusual images to report, but the microphones picked up some sounds. Those were in the art room, the gym store room, and classroom 2-4.” Naru walked over to the white board and pinned up a map of the school, marking the effected classrooms with colour coded dots.

“Interesting. That is quite a response for our first day.” He declared. I looked over at Yasuhara and saw that he was staring at me and looking rather pale. He shifted in his seat and adjusted his glasses as I calmly met his gaze. Despite his unease, he looked confused, so I took pity on him and offered up an explanation for Naru’s comment. The poor guy must be very confused, he doesn’t look like the type to really understand spirit jargon, especially since he looked so shocked at the fact that I could see Sakauchi.

And to think, he was one of the few people that had been warned that I might develop medium like abilities.

“Yeah, usually whenever we show up to a haunting, spirits will hide at first since we’re outsiders. They’re normally very shy, so whenever you get a response that quickly, it means that the spirit is strong. And judging by Sakauchi’s ability to appear selectively, we’re looking at an escalating situation – especially since it wasn’t that long since Sakauchi died.” I conclude.

“Oh, I see.” He says faintly.

Naru finished recording _whatever_ in a new little black book, and then he turned towards us. (I had a strong feeling that he was writing down what had happened – I had noticed that he’d begun keeping detailed reports on my abilities and what the possible side effects of demonic energies mixing with the paranormal were) Then he began to give orders. “Let’s get started.” As soon as he’d opened his mouth, everyone stood up, alert and determined. “Ms. Hara, comb the school and find every place you feel a spirit. I’d like Matsuzaki-san to accompany her and drive out any spirits she finds.”

“Okay.”

“Karma will stay here, so please keep in close contact with him. Do not take these spirits lightly; use extreme caution.” He warned. “I’d like Monk and John to take care of the places we’ve mentioned. Once you have finished with those, link up with Ms. Hara and assist her.”

Monk smirked and shot us a thumbs up. “Sounds good.”

John nodded, “will do.”

Naru nodded. “Lin and I will continue to investigate for more locations. You think you can give us a hand, Yasu?”

“Sure.”

“Karma.”

I perk up slightly. “Try not to fall asleep.” He deadpans.

* * *

_I was standing in the school hallways, late at night. The artificial darkness that made up the dream realm held up against my sight, so I was annoyed at my limited vision. The only light source seemed to be my own glow and the light from the moon outside of the window. “Karma.” Someone said from behind me and I turned around suddenly to see that it was Naru standing behind me. He had the same glow around him that I had, but I know that it can’t be Naru. It might be a figment of my imagination, but this dream Naru knew things that I couldn’t possible. It had to be something more… right?_

_“Eugene?” I ask._

_He smiles softly, looking at me with surprisingly kind eyes. “Yes.” He agrees. “Call me Gene.”_

_“Why are you here?” He shakes his head, not answering my question and just looking down at me with concern._

_“It’s getting dangerous here.” His voice is serious, and he speaks with a kinder tone than Naru does. Now that I know that it’s not Naru, it’s much easier to see the differences. I’m still not processing the fact that I’m speaking with Naru’s dead twin brother though. That’s a lot to handle, and that can be dealt with when I’m awake. “You should leave for your own safety.”_

_Um no? I’m a fucking demon, I doubt that this spirit could do all that much to hurt me. As it is, I’ve never been too seriously injured on a case. The most injury that I’ve sustained was when I fell into the sewers and that was just because of how high I fell from and the fact that I was protecting Naru. “I can handle myself!” I argue, but even as I say it, I know that Gene is going to give me logical reasons why I should leave._

_“Your powers won’t work on spirits. Well, not your demonic ones anyways. Have someone teach you some warding magic and talk to Noll after this case. He’ll know what to do.” Gene instructs. Then he looks away as the glowing white lights surround us. “Those are spirits, there are many of them trapped here.” With the arrival of the white lights, the world around me drained of what little colour that it had, instead leaving pitch blackness, only broken by the white outlines of the walls. Like I was in a blue print but… not blue._

_“Just like in my dream last night.” I mumble as I look around me. Then I look down to see that I had an oddly bird’s eye view of the locker room. It was like I was looking through the floor and ceiling to see into the room. There stood Masako and Ayako, and Ayako was performing an exorcism on a locker. It must be the locker that wouldn’t open._

_There at the base of the locker was a glowing… orb. It was covered in deep purple flame like wisps. As Ayako chanted her exorcism at the thing, it flowed out of the locker and sped out of the room. “Where’s it going?”_

_“The announcement room. Now watch.” Gene ordered, and sure enough, the little dark wisp had flown into the announcement room. But there was already a small white glowing orb there. However, just as I was bout to remark on it, the dark fire moved forwards and sort of just wrapped itself around the white orb. And then it absorbed it, pulsing wildly as it grew in size. The entire process gave me a strong sense of unease._

_“This doesn’t bode well for us. The spirits are devouring each other and growing, like a virus. Pure evil.” Gene warned, suddenly turning to me with a urgent look in his eye. “Listen Karma, it’s too dangerous here for you.”_

_For me? “But Gene! I can’t leave right now, what if they run into trouble?”_

_“Fine. But you really should learn some warding magic – preferably as soon as possible. I still think it’s a bad idea but talk to Noll. He’ll know how to handle this; trust him.” Gene said seriously. “And whatever you do, don’t go near those evil foxfires, got it?” I nodded sharply._

_“Understood.”_

* * *

“Understood? What are you talking about?” A voice said, waking me up. I jolt up sharply, realizing that sometime after everyone left, I had fallen asleep draped across the table. Fuck, did that actually happen? I talked with Eugene Davis. How do I bring this up with Naru?

I look around and see that Yasu was leaning against the table, his face right in front of mine. On reflex, I jump upwards and away from Yasu. “If you keep sleeping on the job, I’m going to have to tell the Big Boss.” Yasu teased, although I could see the worry hidden in his eyes. I rolled my eyes and moved to stretch.

“Hey Yasu? Don’t you think that it’s pretty weird how every kid in this school is Ouija boarding?” I ask, changing the subject and simultaneously testing the waters as I move around the room to go make some tea. My nerves were extra on edge after that dream, and I needed to calm down so that I could function with a clear head. “Or wait, you call it Orikiri-sama, right?”

“Yeah, funny thing is there’s all sorts of rules to follow.” He begins, sipping his tea and looking at me as I pull out my case book and began to make notes. Pulling out my ‘dream journal’ and making notes there too whenever I finished with what Yasu was saying. “Like when you use a piece of paper it can never be used again. Once you’re done with it you have to dispose of it at a shrine, and you have to say an incantation.”

“Really?”

“Yeah it goes; onn ori something or whatever.”

“Wow, I didn’t know that.”

I carefully make some notes underneath the copy of Orikiri-sama that I’d taped into the book under the 5th section I’d made before returning to frantically scribbling down everything I remembered from my dream. I had a very good memory, but the chances of me having the time to talk with Naru alone on this case was slim. I had a feeling that he didn’t want the others to know about Gene, much like I didn’t want them to know too much about me. “I wonder why this entire thing got so popular with the entire string.” I wonder absently, chugging my tea quickly.

Yasu looks faintly disgusted. “If you think about it, the whole thing is just something different to do. It’s just novelty, people always become obsessed with anything that’s new or different. But there’s no sense in analyzing a fad since it takes all the fun out of it.” He laments as he nurses the cup of tea like it’s a beer.

I raise an eyebrow. “You’re a very rational person for your age, huh.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard a lot of people say that I’m an old soul; that I’m a politician in training. They’ll say; ‘I can never tell if you’re really friendly or you’re just really full of it’.” He laughed brightly – I was impressed, he held up well under my calculating gaze; perhaps he _was_ meant for politics – before turning to look at the calendar. “Uh oh. It’s been 12 days. There’s gonna be another fire in the locker room.”

I was suddenly reminded of a very important part of that strange dream. “It may not be… in the locker room.” I say as I stare at the notes and drawings I’d made concerning the dream. “I mean, the fire could be anywhere. Like in the announcement room.” I don’t know if I was ready to put my full trust in these dreams yet, but so far none of them have steered me wrong.

Yasu looks at me in surprise. “But what makes you say that?” Oh, we both know the answer to that question, don’t we. The look in his eyes told me that he had a strong suspicion as to how I knew this. “Did you… have a dream… again?” he asked slowly, looking at me carefully.

Before I could answer him, the door to the base slid open to reveal Monk and John. Monk looked at the two of us for a moment with a stunned face, but then he got a sly smirk on his face. “Uh, hey guys… do I see a budding romance here? Aw isn’t puppy love cute!”

I scowled at him. “Monk! We’re having a serious conversation.” He just had to interrupt then before I could ask Yasu what he had been talking about with Naru the night before. I know that I didn’t hear all of that conversation.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed.” Monk waved his hand as he approached us.

“Think you could maybe give us a minute?” Yasu asks, his full ikemen mask pasted on. “We were just starting to hit it off. Now if you’ll excuse us.” Yasu continues slyly and I resist the urge to laugh. That’s when John very obviously fakes getting hit in the back of the head. I roll my eyes but get up to go check on his anyways.

Monk took this chance to go over and threaten Yasu. “Listen kiddo, I think it’s about time you and I had a little chit chat. I know you have a crush on Karma, but there’s a time and place for this sort of thing. You gotta, you know, get him in the right mood.” Monk wiggled his eyebrows like an absolute creep. I glared over my shoulder at him as John tried to get my attention and failed miserably. My glare only deepened when Yasu began to play along with Monk’s protective dad charade.

“Yeah, I’ll try harder next time.”

Monk’s eyes widened slightly as he looks at Yasu, and in that moment I knew that the original bit was a joke, but poor Monk actually believed Yasu. “So, you do have a thing for Karma, huh.”

“Yeah, can’t you tell?” Then Yasu stepped it up a notch and grinned at Monk. “However, that Naru’s cute as well. He’s a stud, but… not like you.” He flipped around and grabbed Monk’s hand in between both of his as he went full senpai-notice-me and committed to the scene worthy of Suoh Tamaki. “You’re so hot.”

Bou-san sweat dropped as he stared at the high school student. “You’re joking right?” he asked desperately.

“Yep.”

“It’s not funny man.”

“I though it was.”

“That really creeped me out.” Monk face faulted as he buried his head on the table.

Yasu grinned. “It’s just a little payback for interrupting us.” He said flippantly. “So, how did everything go?” Monk just continues to groan into the table.

I raise an eyebrow. “That bad?”

“Yeah, we’re exorcising every place that Masako tells us to, but it’s like we’re not having any effect.” John admits, looking rather despondent.

“That’s weird.” I say evenly before suddenly turning to Monk. “Hey that reminds me, Monk, do you think you could teach me some warding magic?”

“What brought this up?” I couldn’t exactly say what did – that would be giving too much away – so I lied a bit.

“Well, I know that Sakauchi is focused on me at the very least. I’d hate to be trapped defenseless. Being clairvoyant doesn’t really help me there.” I point out, hoping that that would be enough for the man.

It seemed to work because Monk whirled around, his business face on. “Hands like this,” he instructed, holding his hands so that the base of his palms, his thumbs, and the tips of his middle and ring fingers were touching. The rest of his fingers were sort of splayed in a relaxed way. I moved to imitate him, easily figuring out the configuration and then looking up to see what’s next. “This is the seal of the immovable one. Stand up straight and then you say; namaku san man dan bazara san kan.”

I cocked my head to the side and stared at him. He sighs and moves over to the whiteboard, pulling out a white sheet of paper and slamming it on the board dramatically. “Namaku san man dan bazara san kan. It’s a mantra. If that doesn’t drive them away, make the seal of the sword and focus your will.” He instructs, moving his fingers into another hand seal – one that I recognized from watching Sai meditate. I nod sharply, easily imitating the seal.

“Alright, that should be helpful. But I just had one more question.” I say slowly, repeating the hand movements so that I could memorize them and commit them to muscle memory. “One of the high schools that I went to was like, crazy Christian, so I memorized a lot of the lost religious texts because the Vatican gave them access. Could I theoretically use those verses to try and dispel spirits?” I ask curiously.

Monk looked at me curiously. “I thought you didn’t believe in the gods.”

“I don’t.”

Like I’d said at Christmas, I fancy myself an atheist for the most part. Either way, I don’t believe in gods. Demons and evil things sure, but gods just never struck me as a thing that I should put too much faith in. Most gods were cruel and didn’t really do us mortals any favours, I don’t see them as godly if I’m going to be honest. I don’t begrudge anyone else from keeping their faith, but as the literal son of Satan, it doesn’t do much for me.

I moved over to begin making tea – after working this long for the tea addicted narcissist that was Oliver ‘Naru’ Davis, making tea had quickly become a habit and a stress reliever. “I don’t know. Theoretically they should work, but I don’t really specialize in Christian religious texts. I wouldn’t try it unless you aren’t in imminent danger though.” Monk says finally as I hand him some tea. “It’s not worth the risk.”

Fair enough.

I quickly pass out the rest of the tea and take a seat along with John and Yasu.

“So, I don’t really know what to think of Masako. She says she can’t see any spirits, but she can sense their presence. It’s weird.” Monk begins, changing the subject abruptly by bringing up his disbelief in the resident medium… with the other possible medium in the group.

I shrug, I was kind of indifferent to her – as a medium. As a person I think she sucks, but that’s just my opinion and feelings. “Naru said she’s one of the best in Japan, right?” She was certainly famous, and you had to have something to do that. From all of our other cases, she seems to be decently reliable anyways. I wouldn’t trust her with my life, but she was better than nothing. And while my own abilities were still suspect, she was all we had.

“Yeah… but she seems to be… off.” Monk protests. “And what about you, Karma? Do _you_ sense anything?

“Jeez. You can’t put me on the spot like that.” I shift awkwardly. The truth is, I did feel very uneasy here, but I had felt uneasy at every location we’ve gone to. It was simply the presence of the paranormal that clashes with my own. “I just feel uneasy. Sakauchi may have shown himself to me a couple times, but it was probably just a fluke. Maybe I’m just the most approachable to someone like him – I’m certainly the one most likely to agree with his opinion on oppressive high school teachers.”

It was a fair point. We know that Sakauchi had committed suicide, and with his suicide note, we had a pretty good idea as to why.

“Remember earlier when I said there would be a fire in the locker room?” Yasu breaks in suddenly. “You corrected me, saying it _could_ be in the announcement room.” Monk immediately leans over the table to look at me, a glint of excitement in his eyes.

“Really.”

I waved my hands around haphazardly. “Well I fell asleep earlier and I had another dream. You know… one of the weird ones. It just stuck with me – especially after Sakauchi.” I defend.

“A dream?”

I rolled my eyes before beginning to explain how I woke up in the weird world every now and then and what I saw, “I don’t know why, but this happens sometimes. I’ll just sort of get dragged into this dream world and I _see_ things. Things about our case – and even on one occasion, something that helped save my life before I even got into all of this ghost stuff.”

Yasu nods and moves to back me up. “When we were setting up the equipment yesterday, Karma collapsed. When I asked Naru-san about it, he said there was a possibility of Karma having psychic dreams.” This seemed to blow Monk’s mind and he stares at me in awe. He moves forwards and grabs a pillow and shoves it in my face.

“Okay, Karma. Be a good boy and sleep.” He encouraged, grinning at me.

What the fuck? “I’m not tired, Monk!” I snarl at him, pushing the pillow away from my face and glaring at him.

“Whether you like it or not, your dreams have meaning.” He pointed his finger at me, looking hella serious. “This is purely for collecting information, now _sleep._ ”

John smiled softly as I groaned. “Masako and Ayako _did_ exorcise the locker room, maybe you’re on to something.” He tried to comfort me.

“And don’t try to play it off, Karma. You’ve had dreams before that have been useful before.” Monk continues to lecture me, using his superior height to lean over me as he poked me in the head.

I raise an eyebrow and shove Monk away from me. “You expect me to go asleep right on cue, in a place where I feel completely uneasy? That’s just dumb – it’s not going to happen! It’s not intentional; every time that it’s happened before, I’ve been dragged into the dream.”

Monk scowled at me as he held my gaze. Luckily, Yasu did his thing and did his best to diffuse the tense situation. “Now, now, we’ll find out if Karma is right soon enough. If there is a fire in the announcement room, then it will prove that Karma’s dreams have relevance–” I know that they have relevance. Otherwise Gene wouldn’t be there, and the ghosts wouldn’t be dragging me into them. “– and if he does end up being correct, I’d like to see him take a more active role in the case solving process.”

“Since when have _you_ been Karma’s personal manager.” Monk grumbled, tossing the pillow to the side and deadpanning at the beaming teen in front of him.

“Since now.”

I glared haughtily at Yasu and sniffed. I didn’t need a personal manager thank you very much! Although… he is good. I might send Kyoya after him to try and recruit him. It would be good to have a future politician in our pocket, after all.

“You two keep trying to one up each other like you’re related.” John laughed easily. I wanted to simply forget about it, but I really couldn’t. I knew that the dream was no lie despite all of my protests.

There would be a fire in the announcement room tomorrow. There were no longer any spirits in the locker room. They’d all fled and been subsequently devoured.

* * *

Later that night, or more accurately the next morning at 4:32 A.M. that’s exactly what happened.

* * *

[Day 4]

“Fire!” I woke up with a jolt, my nerves all standing on end as I tried to figure out what exactly woke me up. I had crashed in the same room as the other guys this time, but it was oddly silent. I realized that I was the one to yell, and before I could even understand what I was doing, I was wrenching the blanket off of me and rushing over into the base to check the monitors. In my middle of the night induced panic, I wasn’t paying too much attention to how much noise that I was making. As such, I had woken up the entire room of guys in my hurry to rush over to the base. I quickly pulled up the cameras that were in the announcement room and the locker room – and you guessed it, the announcement room was currently on fire.

“Shit.” I curse as I yank the fire extinguisher off the wall of the base and move to run towards the announcement room, Monk and the others surprisingly not far behind me. I booked it to the announcing room, reaching back into my memory for the layout of the school that I’d memorized (honestly half of the stuff that the team blame on my clairvoyance is probably just due to my intellect – but that would be an interesting thing to examine; is it ESP or IQ).

When I got there, the fire was on its way to actually causing some serious damage to the surrounding area. I had it put out by the time the others arrived at the room, and all there was left was some serious scorch marks by the time that Masako and Ayako arrived. “What did I tell ya, Karma?” Monk grumbled as he made his way into the room, looking around at the large burnt areas in the room. “Still, this is more damage than we’ve heard of before. It did more than scorch the walls.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen it this bad.” Yasu notes, looking at the blacked floor and charred objects with wide eyes. His face hardened slightly as he fully took in the damage to the room.

I let the fire extinguisher hang limply from my fingers. “The foxfire was bigger than the one in the locker. It had combined with another one.” I recall, thinking back to the mental map of the school that I’d made. “Things are escalating.”

Naru turns to look at me. “Where else are the foxfires supposed to be?”

“If I remember correctly, the printing room, the language lab, and the nurse’s office were the biggest ones.”

Naru nods before turning around to kneel beside the smaller scorch marks on the ground, lightly dragging his finger across the ashes. The others had all filtered into the room and were doing their own little investigation.

“I’ve got some bad news for you, Naru. Looks like your camera’s toast.” Monk remarked as he poked the destroyed camera on the tripod.

Naru didn’t look all that bothered by that. “Oh, that’s alright. The insurance covers it.” I deadpan in the background. Wow. I remember when I got roped into this job in the first place – sneaky sneaky, Naru. “We should all head back to the base. Get whatever sleep we can.” He continued, standing up and moving towards the door.

Without us being able to do much more, everyone else happily moved back down the halls and towards the rooms where we slept.

“Hey Naru? Could I talk to you for a moment? It’s important.” I asked as soon as we all got back to the base. Naru looked at me oddly, but he nodded in ascent nonetheless. I nodded towards outside of the base and followed Naru out. The others shot us weird looks, but they went to get ready to get back to get whatever sleep was left for them before we needed to get up and start the day. I had a feeling that it would be a long day tomorrow.

As soon as we left the room, I made a point of closing the door and leaning against it so that I would be able to hear if the others wee trying to listen in. This was a conversation that would be dealing with some sensitive topics, and as much as I’d like to postpone this conversation, it’s something that Naru needs to know as soon as possible.

“You know those dreams that I’ve been having? The weird psychic ones that tell me things about our cases? Well, I found out something new about them. I think I have a spirit guide.” I begin, speaking softly so as to decrease the chance of the microphones at the end of the hall picking up on our conversation. “There’s been someone appearing in every one of them, and at first I’d thought that they were a figment of my imagination, but when I was doing research on you, I came across a fact. So, I confronted him.”

I could see the dawning realization in Naru’s eyes as I continued to speak. He almost completely lost his composure as he stared at me, a silent pleading question in his eyes. “It’s Gene.” I confirm. “I don’t see him every time I dream, but sometimes he appears to give me advice, this usually happens when things get _really_ dangerous. About 4 months before I first met you, he first appeared to me in a dream. His warning saved my life.” I murmur, pointedly looking away from Naru and allowing him the opportunity to compose himself.

“Did he tell you anything?” His voice rasps slightly, thick with emotion.

I shake my head slightly before speaking once more. “Nothing about how to find him. I didn’t have enough time to ask. All he said was that it was too dangerous for me here, and that I should talk to you. My psychic abilities are developing more than previously estimated and very rapidly too.” He shifted beside me, crossing his arms and moving to stand against the wall beside the door.

“Your intuition can be linked to your instincts and senses from your unique heritage, but these dreams… I greatly suspect that you’re capable of astral projection – it’s good that you have a spirit guide; astral projecting without one is incredibly dangerous, especially for a novice – and after Sakauchi… you have the potential to be a medium. This is a surprising development,” he admits, “I didn’t think that you’d get this far, but your potential might have been boosted by your… born talents.” He’s being careful too, to not mention anything too sensitive. Better safe than sorry.

I sigh heavily and slide down the door a bit. “I was hoping that that wouldn’t be a thing.” I admit quietly. I appreciate the fact that as a spiritualist, I’m not completely defenseless against spirits even if my powers turn out to be useless. But being a medium sounds kind of shitty. At least the astral projection potential can be incredibly useful on cases – all the same, if Masako is ever unavailable, we have someone that can sense spirits.

(The more time I was spending in this damned school the more I began to recognize the signs of spirits. Every place that I’d seen the spirits in my dream that Masako hadn’t visited felt off to me. I was learning to associate that feeling with spirits, and as a sensor, my abilities were growing and becoming a bit more fine tuned.)

“When this case is over, I want to work on some exercises with you. If you have any more dreams, I expect you to tell me immediately. You have a dream journal?” he asks, standing up and moving towards the journal. “Keep records; I want to see it when this case is over.” And that was that. He opened the door and began to walk through it, only pausing to leave me with one last parting phrase.

“Get some sleep.”

* * *

I was walking down the corridors of the school as the kids made their way to their next class, just minding my own business. But of course, that just couldn’t last; not at this school. “Hey you! Are you people done yet?” a harsh voice demanded from behind me. I stopped in my place and turned around, not at all surprised to see that asshole teacher here to harass again. “I heard there was another fire this morning. I guess your silly little exorcisms didn’t take.” He sneered, looking down his nose at me, not caring at all that the remaining students in the hall were all watching us. “The big problem with you people is that the only place that ghosts exist is in your mind. You exploit weak minded people to earn a buck.”

“With all due respect sir, it’s not like you’re doing anything either.” I hiss under my breath before speaking a bit louder. “Excuse me sir, but I really need to get back to work now.” I turn and move to continue walking down the hall with my head held high.

But he wasn’t done yet. “Would you like to know what happens to those who ignore their studies by wasting their time with this occult nonsense?” he demands again. He’s obviously talking about Sakauchi; rather tasteless of him, really. “It happened to a student of ours, he became so obsessed with the dark side of life, it eventually led to his demise.”

“Yes, sir. We are aware of what happened to Sakauchi.” I say stiffly, turning back to glare at the man. “Although, we have it on good authority that he didn’t kill himself because of the _occult_.”

He raises and eyebrow at me, clearly unimpressed with the lack of respect that I was showing him. But could you blame me? He was being a dick bag. “Is that right? Watch out that you don’t end up just like him. I’m sure he’s regretting what he did in the afterlife.”

“So, if I understand you correctly, you’re basically not sorry for what happened to your student?” I very nearly snarl.

He looks scandalized that I’d eve suggest something like that. “What? I never said any such thing!

“Well, that sure is the way that it sounded to me.” I look him right in the eyes. “I tried to jump off a cliff in middle school, long before I _ever_ believed in the paranormal. And just to clear things up, I’m a university student – I graduated early from high school because I’m smart.” He didn’t seem to know how to respond to my abrupt confession.

He was saved from having to respond to me by the sounds of terrified screams coming from one of the classrooms down the hall. Without so much as sparing him a backwards glance, I ran towards the room where the screams were coming from.

“Karma, what’s going on!” Monk yelled as he ran towards me.

“I don’t know!” I yelled back over the screams. I wrenched open the door as the rest of the team crowds behind me. The entire room was flooded with the awful purple aura that I had learned to associate with the foxfires. In the centre of the room – busy tearing apart desks – was a large glowing hound covered in bright purple flames. It set off my instincts just like a demon would have. It looked like the same dog as last time, just Clifford the Big Red Dog sized.

As the students continued to scream, I moved in front of the others and bent over slightly in a ready crouch, not breaking eye contact with the demon like apparition as it turned to glare at me. It snarled and launched the desks over our heads. It would have taken someone out had they not quickly moved out of the way. “Karma! Watch out!” Monk yelled, reaching forwards as if to grab me.

I growled, a rumble deep in my chest echoing through the room. It wasn’t obvious that it came from me – especially with the purple heat haze like aura around the room. However, it had the desired effect on the dog, seeing as it took a step back and began to fade away.

And with the dog’s disappearance, the purple haze went away too, leaving behind a ruined classroom and terrified students.

“I’ve never encountered a spirit like that.” Masako whispered. “It’s as if it had physical substance.”

Naru took a step forwards, moving towards the students. “Excuse me,” when he got no answer, he tried again. “Excuse me, Matsuyama-san! You need to call an ambulance, we have some injured students here.” Matsuyama just looked shocked, but he did stumble out of the classroom to presumably call an ambulance. Well he can’t deny the existence of the paranormal now. He was almost killed by that dog; the desk would have definitely hit him if he hadn’t moved out of the way. Something like that would be shocking for anyone, let alone a nonbeliever.

“Is that the same dog that we had a run in with yesterday?” Ayako asked as she walked deeper into the room, closely followed by the others.

“If it is, it’s grown a lot since we last saw it.” Bou-san commented dryly.

Masako slowly walked past him, her kimono sleeve covering her mouth and the lower half of her nose. “It must be getting stronger.” Naru murmured as he helped a student up and moved to examine the injuries that the student had received. Masako didn’t hear this, as she was looking around the room with abject horror.

She got maybe halfway through the classroom before suddenly swooning and crumpling to her knees. I rushed forwards an moved to put my hand on her shoulder. “Masako? What’s wrong?”

* * *

_I didn’t even feel the transfer this time. One minute I was moving to kneel beside Masako because she collapsed, and the next I was floating through what I believe Naru called the astral plane. There were the small glowing spirits around me, and in the zero-gravity situation, there beneath me was a deep purple swirling mass. It was easily 4 times my size and let off an aura that I can only describe as evil._

_Something was struggling in the centre of the mass – it was a glowing white like the other spirits and it seemed to be caught. The swirling mass quick to cover it with more of the dark purple energy. It only took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. It was Sakauchi, and he was drowning. Don’t go near there! You’re going to be absorbed!_

_But I was far too late to the scene. The mass had already swallowed him whole. Sakauchi was no longer one of the spirits haunting the school. The mass then chose to fucking explode, and my vision was entirely enveloped in the deep purple poison._

* * *

“Are… you two okay?”

I jolt up, suddenly realizing that instead of kneeling down beside Masako, I’d managed to collapse. I was laying on my side, curled up in a fetal position and staring off in space. Light tremors wracked through my body, and I shivered slightly as I struggled to push myself upwards. I look around to see that Masako hadn’t moved from her place beside me and was still pressing her kimono sleeve over her mouth. Although now it looked a lot less like a gesture used to hide emotion and more like one that was holding back vomit. Not elegant; but very true.

She was staring into the distance, and as I struggled to push myself up, arms quickly wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me into a sitting position. “What happened? The two of you just fainted.” Monk asked as he leaned over Masako to look at me. I looked around to see that the others were gathered around us, and Naru was actually on the ground beside me, his face a stony mask. “It scared us.”

I was still pretty shaken – this is the first time that I’d really had a vision like that; one that happened while I was ‘awake’ – so I was grateful for the silent support that he was offering. I turned to glance at Masako, she was hiding her face in her hands now. “I take it you saw it too.” I say solemnly. She nods before beginning to cry softly into her hands.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Sakauchi’s gone. He disappeared.”

* * *

“It’s exactly like what happened in Karma’s dream. The spirits have begun to consume each other.” Masako told us as we sat around the tables in the base. “Sakauchi. He was absorbed by another.”

“Hold on, so any spirit that we drive out isn’t being exorcised, it just flees to another location where it’s eaten by another bigger spirit?” Ayako asked in disbelief, horror beginning to dawn on her face.

John nodded solemnly. “And then the spirits that cannibalize each other become stronger. It’s quite frightening.”

We all looked around at each other for a moment, finally beginning to grasp just what kind of situation that we were in. But now we know that my dreams really do have a significant level of truth and reliability. All the same… if things continue to escalate the way that they are…

“Karma, did you eat today?”

Naru’s voice broke across the room. The others practically whipped around to stare at the dark teenager as he made the oddly off topic comment.

“No, why?” I answered absently.

“Eat.” He ordered, standing up and walking over to my side before lightly nudging me out of my seat and towards the makeshift kitchen are where I saw a bag with a surprising amount of snacks. I looked round and saw the other sneaking us looks and I rolled my eyes at them, suppressing a blush. This is _not_ what I expected when I told Naru that I had a higher metabolism.

I shuffled over to the bag of food that looked mysteriously like it had just been bought – did Naru actually take Yasu up on his offer of running errands for us? – and poke around in it. Normally, I’d just pop a lemon candy in my mouth and call it a day (they had enough calories for me to substitute it for snacking; I had been eating them as supplementary energy for years now because it would be weird if I ate too much), but Naru actually looked serious right now.

I pulled out a bag of veggie chips and crept back over to my seat under my boss’ careful scolding gaze. “I would’ve eaten something eventually…” I grumble to myself as I lean into my chair and dig into the bag of chips. It wasn’t until they actually hit my tongue that I realized that I was really hungry. Shit… it _had_ been a pretty long time since I ate, hadn’t it?

I glared – only half-heartedly though – at Naru over the edge of the bag as I curled myself up until all of me fit on the chair. I didn’t want to admit that he was right. Even if he was. I was petty like that.

“So, what do you think that we should do?” Monk asked, breaking the silence and returning to the original topic. He brushed off the odd behaviour from Naru surprisingly quickly – I would have thought that he would like to focus on that a bit more.

Naru retook his seat, apparently satisfied with the fact that I was snacking and ready to move back to the matter at hand. “It may be wise to hold off on the exorcisms for now. There’s no telling what will happen if they run out now.”

The door slides open as Yasu makes his entrance. “Um, excuse me.”

Naru looked up at the sound of the door, perking up slightly at the serious look on Yasu’s face. An odd reaction, but considering we were at a stalemate on matter concerning moving forwards with the case, any news is something that can be useful. “What is it?”

“I heard something that was a little disturbing.” Yasu said seriously, all traces of the false bright smile he usually wore gone. He didn’t even bat an eye at the sight of me curled up on a chair and munching on a large bag of veggie chips. 

“And what’s that?”

Yasu shuffled over, flipping through a notebook as he approached the table to say his piece. “Well, I traced back to the first use of Orikiri-sama in the school. My conversation with Karma yesterday got me thinking. It looks like the Orikiri-sama fad began shortly after the second semester. There were two groups; the freshman class and the art club. And it seems that they both started using it around the same time. But there’s more to it than that, and unfortunately, it’s worse.’ Yasu looks truly sad about the news that he’s giving us. “Not only was Sakauchi a member of the art club, but he was also a freshman at the time.”

“Now I’m not drawing any conclusions,” he was quick to reassure us, “but it is interesting. It definitely seems like it could be relevant.”

“Although it’s an interesting development, it doesn’t change the fact that the practice spread through the school.” Naru said simply, folding his hands under his chin and leaning on them. “Countless séances took place, and spirits were summoned as a direct result. However, there’s still a piece missing. Something strange and nefarious is happening at this school. Regardless of how many séances were performed, I seriously doubt that amateurs could summon such a volume of spirits. So, what now? This is a tough one.”

You know, I like to give him shit for it, but sometimes it really did amaze me with the way that Naru thought. Is this how the others in Class E felt when I was still running circles around them academically?

* * *

I lazily strolled down the halls of the school long after dark. The others were beginning to turn in for the night, but I still had to get the tapes from some of Naru’s cameras. Not all of them were the most modern – surprising because of Naru’s tight standards – but they got the job done. I had taken a flashlight with me at Monk’s urging, even if I didn’t need it. There was an odd comfort about seeing the beam of light lead the way down my path.

“All I need to do is get the tape and go back to base.” I mumble to myself as I enter the chemistry lab. It should be pretty cut and dry, so I hold the flashlight in my mouth while I move to open up the camera. I press the buttons just like the instruction manuals had said was the sequence, but the camera wasn’t surrendering the tape to me. Ugh, Naru’s going to kill me if I broke a camera. I move to try and manually open the damn thing when the flashlight goes out.

Was it a power outage? No… that wouldn’t affect the battery powered flashlight, that’s just stupid. At least I can see.

I…

I have a bad feeling about this.

I’ll just turn around and head back to base.

I move to do so, but of fucking course my life couldn’t be that easy and the fucking door was locked. It’s a sliding door! It doesn’t even _have_ a lock! Damn spirits always fucking interfering. I try to kick it down but end up cursing when it simply won’t budge. It didn’t look like I was getting out of this room any time soon. Shit.

Then children’s laughter began to echo through the room, and I immediately knew that this spirit was fucking with me. A quick look out the window showed that there were actual children’s spirits lined up against the glass. I tried to summon my flames, but they did nothing to deter the spirits as they approached. I even sent it through the glass, but it simply went through them. Fuck. Well I know that that doesn’t work on them.

That’s not good.

I try a couple of the memorized bible passages as the room begins to shake, but I barely get through one before thing start falling down around me. The shelves shake violently and glass jars full of liquid and dead things come crashing down and shatter across the floor, spreading a lovely mix of no doubt toxic liquids to waft into the air.

That smells like formaldehyde; this is really not good. I turn and begin to bang on the door, desperately trying to break through it, but nothing happens. It’s like I’m kicking a cinderblock wall; all I’m doing is hurting myself more. As more and more glass cases shatter, the overpowering smell of formaldehyde fills the room. I cough violently, inevitably collapsing onto the ground. The smell was overpowering and dangerous for normal humans, but for me it was magnified and made so much worse.

I felt like I was inhaling the liquid itself. It burned with every breath I took, and before I knew it, my vision went black.


	15. File 5 - Part 3

_I wasn’t surprised to wake up in the astral plane this time. With the chemical mixture in the room, it was no wonder that I was knocked unconscious. I just hope that it won’t cause me any permanent damage, or at least damage that can’t be healed quickly._

_This time though, the astral plane was a lot darker. Where the school had been swarmed with glowing lights and dark foxfires, there was only a couple orbs remaining. One flew past me, spiraling downwards where it was readily absorbed by a small foxfire right in front of me._

_Just like Sakauchi._

_The blackness behind me opened up, whiting out my vision, and the next thing I know, I’m sitting in what looked like a dorm room. The curtains were drawn over the window, but there was a thin line of bright white light that illuminated the room. It was neat – impeccably so. Every book placed on a shelf, and only a small briefcase and a wallet laying on the desk by the military precisely made bed. A school uniform neatly pressed hung on the wall beside a satchel._

_I make my way over to the bookshelves, taking in the number of paranormal research books that Sakauchi had on his shelf. There were translations of Naru’s books, and many different books on folklore from other countries. He had everything from onmyodo to the Catholic church and its horrible history of handling exorcisms. How interesting – he had really been invested in parapsychology. There was a bunch of research papers from various psychic research societies around the world._

_I sneeze lightly as I walk around the room. It’s really dusty in here, like someone hadn’t entered, let alone touched anything in here, in a while. I reach forwards and grab the wallet, pulling out a train pass. It’s expired._

_And then I spot the name on the bottom of the train pass. It’s Sakauchi’s name._

_This was Sakauchi’s room._

* * *

[January]

[Day 4]

“Karma. Karma!” A voice says sharply from above me. “Are you awake?”

I carefully crack my eyes open, weary of the light that opening my eyes promised. However, the room was surprisingly dim with only a couple of lights on the ceiling being on. Naru was leaning over me and looking at me with a surprisingly soft facial expression. One that reminded me a lot of how Gene normally looked.

I jerk upwards, just narrowly avoiding cracking heads with Naru. I was able to get a glimpse of the room around me before the dizziness hit me. I was sitting – well laying – on a bed in the infirmary and Naru was… sitting on the edge of the bed? “I don’t feel so good.” I groan quietly, collapsing back onto the bed.

“Then don’t sit up so fast.”

Smug bastard.

Ayako quickly slapped a warm towel over my eyes. “Just lay down, idiot.” She scolded. I lightly pushed the towel up to my forehead so that I could see what was going on.

“Hey!” I look over to the side, past Ayako to see that the others were sitting on the bed beside mine.

“Morning~” Yasu sing songed from where he was sitting cross-legged on the bed.

John smiled, “g’day!” 

“Hey guys,” I try to smile weakly, but my head feels like there’s a thousand cotton balls shoved behind my eyes. “Where am I?”

Ayako scowls at me. “The nurse’s office.” She deadpans. “Why were you wandering around by yourself last night?” she demanded.

“I had to get a video tape.”

It was a weak excuse for someone who didn’t know the full story. But I should have been capable of defending myself well enough. If my strength couldn’t have broken down that door, then there was no way that they could have done anything. Besides, I passed out before I could even get to using any of the warding magic I knew. The first instinct had been to use the mantras and verses that I knew, but it only seemed to agitate the spirits – it might be worth looking into whether or now a completed verse would be an adequate exorcism. I’d have to ask John.

“What?” Ayako demanded, crossing her arms and glaring over at Naru. “ _Naru,_ what were you thinking? How could you send him on an errand alone in such a volatile place?” Now that was just having absolutely no faith in me. (To be fair, I had gotten injured in every single case, but it wasn’t like I was helpless! I could defend myself thank you very much…) Naru had his back facing the others and he sat on my other side. He was doing a great job of ignoring Ayako though. “Jeez, I can’t even tell if he’s listening to me.” She grumbled before turning towards me once more. “So Karma, what happened?”

Well that was a question that was harder to answer than what I would expect. “Well, I went to go check the tapes and I’d taken a flashlight with me. The camera wouldn’t open, so I put down the flashlight for a second and then it went out. I thought that was weird, so I went to head back to base, but the door refused to open. I couldn’t even kick it down, it was like it was a wall. That’s when the room started shaking, and the laughing children appeared. I lost consciousness due to the concentration of chemicals in the air.”

“The spirits have changed into children, huh. Masako, can you tell if they’re still here?” Ayako asked, turning to look at the kimono wearing girl who was standing across from Ayako.

She shook her head. “They’re gone. I can’t feel their presence.”

Monk glanced at me annoyed. “So uh, why didn’t you use that warding magic that I taught you?” he asked. “The mantras I knew didn’t work.” I say carefully, pointedly directing my gaze towards Naru. He needed to know that with spirits my powers were basically useless. Nothing more than my aura even seemed to be a blip on the radar to them. “I didn’t have much of a chance to get far enough through one of yours Monk. The chemical mixture got to me and I completely passed out. My heightened senses worked against me and drastically decreased the amount of time that I can withstand the chemical effects.”

Naru stood up and turned to face me. He bent down slightly, his finger touching the small Eye of Ra charm (my necklace was on top of my shirt in this current position, so it was readily visible to everyone) before looking me in the eye. “How hurt would you say that you are?” he said softly, ignoring the somewhat scandalized looks he was receiving from the others at his continued out of character behaviour.

(I mean first he was overly concerned at my repeated passing out, then he made me take a literal snack break, and now he was taking particular notice in a charm that I was wearing. It was completely different to how he acted around everyone else, and this change in behaviour didn’t go unnoticed.)

“Naru! You can’t just expect him to be able to diagnose–” Ayako began to protest, but I cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

“I inhaled quite a bit of formaldehyde, and until I know what the other chemicals were, I can’t tell for sure, but so far, there just seems to be some slight burns in the nasal passage and my esophagus. It will heal.” I say, paying attention to exactly what parts of my body were damaged. Any bruising from the fall was already healed, and the lingering cuts from glass had already been cleaned and bandaged. I felt like shit, but I doubt that it would have any lasting effects.

Naru nodded and straightened up, looking up at everyone else. “Since Karma isn’t severely injured, we don’t need to be here any longer; there’s work to be done. Matsuzaki, stay with him.” Naru ordered, his face hardening back into its usual seriousness.

“Sure thing.” Ayako nodded, and then everyone else filed out of the room without further complaint. “If you’re still feeling bad, you can stay in bed as long as you want. I’m not going anywhere.” She gently brushed my bangs away from my forehead before sitting down on the bed beside me. My eyes began to close against my will, and before I could even comprehend just how _tired_ I was, I was out like a light.

* * *

_This time I found myself standing on a cobblestone path in what looked to be a wooded area. In front of me, at the end of the path, was a small shrine. It had two small fox statues at the ‘entrance’ of the shrine. I hear footsteps approaching me an I turn around to see that Gene was walking towards me, taking full advantage of his long legs to make it to me faster._

_“It’s dangerous out here.” He warned, an oddly urgent look on his face. “It’s not safe here, Karma. Wake up. Time to go.”_

_I looked around me, “wake up?” I asked confused. So far, the dream appeared to be the least dangerous dream that I’d had, but then I realized what he was hinting at. “You mean not here, but the nurse’s office. That’s not safe?” The world around me blurred as the sound of a heartbeat began to echo in the background. The shrine disappeared from around me to be replaced by the now familiar darkness looking down on Rokuryo High School._

_In the centre of the school was a large purple larva type thing. It was pulsing, beating in time with the phantom heartbeat that I was hearing. “That’s a… foxfire.” I whisper, staring at the thing, stunned. It was humongous, easily being as tall as the school, and maybe half the width of the front face of the building. Rokuryo High School was no slouch either, so this thing was massive._

_“Yeah, it appears to be sleeping now.” Gene agreed, looking at it with a weary gaze. “You can see how it’s been feeding on the other souls due to how large it’s grown. It’ll be hatching any day now.” I look up at him, a bit confused by what he was telling me. What does he mean by ‘hatches’ and ‘sleeping’? Does he mean that it has been dormant this entire time? That didn’t bode well for us…_

_“Once if hatches, I don’t know if we’ll be able to stop it.” He murmurs, looking distantly at the school. But then it’s back to business and he’s hurriedly giving me instructions. “There’s a total of four foxfires. One of the foxfires, is in the nurse’s office, can you see it?” I look around the school, seeing the four foxfires that Gene had mentioned. The other three weren’t as big as the one near the front of the school, but they were still concerning. The one in the nurse’s office was the second largest, on par with one of the others. “That’s why you_ need to wake up _.”_

 _I wasn’t paying too much attention to the warning that Gene was giving me. Waking up and getting the fuck out sounded very important, but my attention was focused on the sight of John and Yasuhara walking towards the other foxfire. Shit! They wouldn’t be able to handle a confrontation with_ that _. Without even thinking (that was becoming quite the habit lately – was my ESP making me more impulsive?) I began to bolt towards the school, walking into the odd smoky haze that had surrounded everything._

_“Please,” Gene’s voice echoed through the smoke, “be careful.”_

* * *

I jolt awake very much like the last time I woke up in the damn nurse’s bed. I fell backwards slightly due to the dizzy spell, but that did nothing to hinder my urgency. “What’s wrong?” Ayako cried, leaning over to help support me, but I just waved her away. “What are you doing jumping out of bed like that? Calm down.”

“Please Ayako!” I gasp, startling her with my use of manners. That, if nothing else, told her that I was serious and that there was something very wrong. “Get to the printing room on the first floor. John and Yasu are about to in there; one of those things is waiting for them! They’re in danger! Please, go.” I won’t be of any use running to them, and in my current state of wooziness, I doubt that I’d be any help even if I could perform an exorcism for spirits.

“I don’t think I should leave you alone.”

“I’ll be fine! Monk taught me some warding magic called ‘the immovable man’ or something, and I know a couple verses from lost Christian texts.”

Ayako shook her head, taking both my hands into her own and pleading with me. “This is a bad idea, please Karma.” I glared at her, and she looked back in surprise at the sheer determination in my gaze. “Okay, remember this one too. Rin, Pyo, Toh, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen.” With every word, she used her index and middle finger to draw lines in the air. “There’s nine of them.”

I nod. “Horizontal first,” I confirm. It wasn’t that hard of a seal to remember, and hopefully this would work for me.

“Recite them after you’ve chanted the seal of the immovable one.” She instructs before dashing towards the door. “I’ll be right back,” she assures me before disappearing down the hallway in a dead sprint.

I fall backwards onto the pillows on the bed, letting out a sigh of relief. Hopefully she’d get to them in time, and hopefully the effects of inhaling who knows how many chemicals will wear off soon. I hated being incapacitated like this. I can’t even sit up for long right now, let alone run away. Adrenaline can only do so much.

And of fucking course, because the universe _loves_ to fuck with me, the lights flickered off. Shit, what was it that that girl had said happens her again? _In the second to last bed, there’ll suddenly be someone in it._ And sure enough, all I had to do was look over at the bed to my right to see the soft purple glow of a spirit. It was vaguely human shaped, and it hid under the covers, looking for the world like a decoy that some stupid kid would use to fake being in bed when they snuck out.

I slowly sat up, pushing the covers off me, and sure enough, the thing mirrored my movements, revealing its glowing purple mass. I quickly form the seal of the immovable one and chant the mantra that Bou-san had given me. “Namaku san man dan bazara san kan, namaku san man dan bazara san kan.” The spirit begins to warp, growing and spreading as it flies through the air, it’s image completely distorted. Well at least the mantra was affecting the spirits. I switch over to the nine cuts, “rin, pyo, toh, sha–” the ground beneath the bed abruptly shakes kind of like an earthquake and I’m thrown from the bed violently before I can finish the chant.

I yelp as my back comes into contact with the wall, before beginning to cough violently. At my feet a cold air has begun to solidify into a fog, only making it harder for my taxed lungs to recover breath. The temperature’s dropping – shit. I struggle to stand up, leaning heavily against the wall. A quick glance towards the bed, reveals that it’s empty. Great, the spirit has disappeared on me and now the room is filling with mist. Exactly what I need right now.

I inch towards the door, y hand barely coming in contact with the handle when the ground seemingly vanishes beneath my feet causing me to land hard on my shoulder and knee. Fuck that _hurt_. Dammit! Why do I keep falling? I reach up to try the door again, but my hand only comes into contact with a wall.

…What?

I whirl around to see an absolute wreck of debris behind me. It looked like a scrap heap, only with hospital beds and entire chunks of concrete. The floor collapsed. Huh. Okay then.

There’s a jagged over hang above me, and I briefly entertain the idea of trying to haul myself up, but with how weak the floor was, I wasn’t quite desperate enough to try it yet. Creaks and sharp cracks echoed through the now demolished room as the rubble began to settle. It set every single warning bell in my head off, and I froze unconsciously as I waited for something to happen. The creaking turns intensified and eventually turned into a clicking and crawling sounds. Something was in here with me.

“Karma!” Naru yelled as the door above me slammed open. He skidded to a halt just as he saw the edge of the floor, “what the…” he seemed stunned by what he saw. It was probably quite the sight from up there. Just hours ago (even minutes ago) the floor had been perfectly fine. And now it was _fucking gone._ “What happened here?”

I shook my head, turning to look at him. “I don’t know, there was a loud sound and then everything started shaking, and the next thing I know, I was down here.” I tell him, reaching up to grab onto the edge of the concrete. Naru reaches down to help me up and I grip his hand tightly, trusting his balance and strength more than I did the broken floor edges.

Sharp cracks began to suddenly echo through the room, causing both Naru and I to freeze and glance up at the ceiling. Large cracks had appeared in the ceiling around the edges, and I knew that the ceiling was the next thing that was going to come down. 

As soon as I heard the cracks, I knew that I didn’t have much time to make a decision. Naru’s eyes widened almost comically as he stared up at the ceiling. We had only maybe seconds before the entire ceiling went down just like the floor did. Theoretically I could pull myself up fast enough to escape it, but I didn’t trust my limbs so soon after a fall like that (not to mention my head and shoulders were still killing me), and well… Naru was human. He was currently holding onto my arm and trying to pull me up, but he wouldn’t be able to help me up in time. He would most likely just get pulled in after me like with the sewers.

So, I did the only thing that I could do. I let go and dropped back down to the ground just as the ceiling completely collapsed and rained down on me.

“KARMA!”

* * *

_Gold. Huh. This is new._

_Everything around me was a bright yellow colour, it reminded me a lot of Korosensei when he was happy with how well our class was working together. There were white translucent bubbles floating around – it reminded me a lot of the warm light that I saw when a spirit got cleansed. I’m laying on the ground, and my back feels incredibly heavy._

_Which make sense because you know, the ceiling fell on me._

* * *

“Karma! Karma! Are you okay? Answer me!” A voice ordered from above. It sounded so far away that it took me a moment to hear exactly what they were saying. From the tone and the sharpness of the voice, I could tell that it was Naru. Good, he didn’t fall in with me. “Karma!”

I groan loudly before shifting and struggling to raise myself on all fours. I froze about halfway up as I heard the concrete and other rubble above me began to shift. “I-I-I’m okay.” I grit out from between my teeth as I continue to shift, this time a bit more carefully so that I don’t end up getting crushed. I don’t know how much weight I’m currently holding, but I know that it’s not going to be good for my back either way.

After a minute or two of shifting, I heard footsteps approaching – no doubt the rest of the team being drawn here by Naru’s screams. How did he even find me by the way? Did he hear the crash and come running?

“Naru! What happened?” I heard Monk yell as the others gasped in shock at the sight of the rubble.

“When I got here the floor had collapsed and Karma was already down a level. I tried to pull him up, but when he noticed the ceiling crumbling he let go.” Naru’s voice sounded a bit hollow as he spoke.

This seemed to cause everyone else a lot of panic and soon there were numerous screams of my name being repeated. Shit, I’d need to get out of here fast or else they’re going to start questioning me if I emerge without too few injuries. I increase my shifting, and within a couple seconds, I’m able to find a small space where I can crawl out of.

“I’m okay!” I call out as I crawl on top of the rubble, sitting on it as I take a breather. I slowly increase the depth of my breath, checking to see if any of my ribs had cracked or broken under the pressure of a ceiling falling on me. There were many exclamations of relief coming from the door way. I looked over to see that all the others were there.

“Karma, just stay calm okay?” John called. “We’ll get something to get you out in no time.” I _could_ just sit tight and let them struggle, _or_ I could do something myself and we could all head to base quicker. I wanted to lie down, so I chose the latter. I grunt as I stand up, gingerly straightening up and wincing at the huge crack that my back makes.

I bounce slightly on the balls of my feet and look around the small ledge that I’d found myself on. I wasn’t too far from the door. “Nah, don’t bother. Just back up a bit?” The others looked confused, but Naru got an understanding look on his face and immediately ushered the others out of the doorway, although he did linger. That was good enough for me, and I carefully back up before running and fucking leaping over and through the door, tucking and rolling as I crossed the threshold.

I stopped like two feet into the hallway and nearly instantly regretted doing the roll because my shoulder _hurt_. That was going to be a bitch to deal with for the next couple of days. Look at me, 4 days into a case and I have internal burns due to sensitivity to inhaling chemicals and I’ve had a ceiling dropped on me. What’s next, I get pushed off the roof?

I probably just jinxed myself.

“Fuck.” I cursed quietly as I grabbed my shoulder and plopped my ass on the floor. That hurt, and I really didn’t want to walk back to the base. It was pretty far away, and everything ached.

Ayako was immediately leaning down in front of me and placed her hands under my chin so that she could look me in the eyes. She obviously didn’t like the state that I was in because she promptly ordered; “somebody carry him back to the base so that I can patch him up.” And then she was stomping off in the direction of the base.

“Ugh, she’s so melodramatic.” I grown, determinedly trying to stand up by myself, because now that Ayako ordered it, I was not going to listen to her.

Monk sighed heavily before leaning down in front of me. “Here, Karma, I’ll–” he was cut off by none other than Naru as he easily scooped me up _bridal style_ and began walking down the hall.

“It’s fine Takigawa-san. I’ll take him from here.” And then he was stalking off to the base with me in tow, his aura swirling around him in agitation.

* * *

“You know you’re lucky you weren’t seriously injured!” Ayako scolded as she pressed bandages to the cuts on my hands and my lower legs. “The fact that you’re walking away with only minor injuries is a miracle!”

“The school is in dire need of major renovation, the ceiling collapsed because of weak beams.” Naru explained, watching as I flexed my hands and rolled my shoulder experimentally. I was regaining some of the strength in my limbs and my throat was hurting less so I’d be able to eat something soon. I popped a lemon candy in my mouth to tide me over though. It had the added bonus of being soothing on my throat too.

Monk placed a hand on my head and rolled it around like a joystick. “We should probably take you to a hospital, just to be sure.” I smacked away his hand and rolled my eyes.

“Really I’m just fine!”

“Does anyone else think this is weird?” Monk asked, moving on and ignoring my protests. “It would take an incredible amount of power for a spirit to make a ceiling collapse like that.”

Yasuhara turned to look up at Monk. “So, the spirit is more powerful than what you usually encounter.”

Monk nodded, causing Yasuhara to look rather dejected. “But what’s more alarming is its brutality.” A heartbeat went off in my ears as I was suddenly reminded of my dream.

“It just hatched.” I murmur, repeating what Gene told me. “It’s been asleep up to this point. After it finished absorbing enough power it hatched like an egg. Now no one, will be able to stop it.”

* * *

[Day 5]

“Go home?” I asked, scandalized. “Why?”

Everyone was gathered in the base after all the chaos of yesterday, and apparently the principal had decided that our services were no longer required. “Apparently they decided this in a meeting.” Monk had his arms crossed as he leaned against the white board.

“But, the investigation isn’t over? They expect us to leave when we haven’t finished the job?” I was confused. Why would the client want to get rid of us when we haven’t finished the job? I understand calling off a hit but getting rid of ghosts was a bit different. What do they think they’re going to accomplish by firing us?

Monk shrugged, “I don’t know. They blame us for the escalation, so our hands are tied on this one, Karma. When the client says you go home, you go home.”

“We can’t just leave it here. The remaining spirits will keep feeding on each other until eventually only one gigantic spirit will be left. The destruction it could cause, it almost guarantees bloodshed.” I was all for leaving people to the mercy of the mess that they made, but this was a little bigger than that. This case had one a serious level of tits up, and to be quite frank, leaving it unfinished felt wrong somehow.

“What did you just say?” Naru asked suddenly, snapping his book shut and turning to stare wide eyed at me. “They’ll feed on each other until the strongest remains.” Naru looked like he’s just come to an epiphany. “How can that be? Is it possible that we’re up against a koduku using spirits?” Lin looked up to stare at him in horror. Clearly ‘koduku’ meant something to the two – and it wasn’t good.

I cocked my head to the side and stared up at him quizzically. “What’s that?”

“A zuzou hex; a curse that dates back to ancient China.” Well that explains why Lin would have knowledge on it. And he came here along with Naru – and Naru basically knows everything to do with spirits. “It’s been thought to be extinct for years now. Zuzou normally use hitogata, talismans, and other charms to curse, but some can use living creatures. That, is a koduku. Usually an insect is used; one known as a golden silk worm. But exactly what type of bug that is, still remains a mystery. Worms and centipedes were also commonly used. They take the bugs and place them inside a pot, and then bury the pot in the earth. Several months later, they did it up.” Naru explained, staring blankly at the wall across the room.

The others looked completely enraptured by his soft lecture tone, and I found myself absorbing the information attentively myself as well. “What remains is a single bug that has devoured the others. The curse is performed with this one survivor. The bug takes possession of the road in front of the house of the person being cursed and brings an enormous amount of wealth. However, in return, a human must be sacrificed for the curse to continue. If not, the bug will devour the homeowner. If one is unable to feed the bug, they must exchange all of the wealth that the bug has produced, plus interest for gold and silver in the road. It’s called the golden silk transfer.”

“But if it’s on the road then what’s to stop someone else from taking it for themselves?” I ask curiously.

“Whoever takes it would see the money but never really know what they have,” Ayako shivered and hugged herself.

“And then they would be eaten as well,” Monk agrees, looking equally as unsettled.

Naru crosses his arms and continues with his little explanation. “The same idea can also be used as a death curse. You perform the koduku curse along with the bug and silver on someone you despise. They don’t understand its meaning, neglect to feed the bug, and are devoured in the process.”

“Hold on, the bug’s being put into the pot and eating each other – that’s exactly what’s happening at this school.” I realize quietly, suddenly aware of just how serious this thing is.

Naru nods, “that’s why I believe it’s a koduku curse.”

“So instead of the usual bugs, we have spirits eating each other.” Monk has the dawning look of realization on his face as all the pieces that Naru was providing fit together before his eyes.

“If they continue doing this without us stopping them, and one powerful spirit remains, then… what will happen?” It’s one thing with the damn bugs, but this was on another level. The curse was used as a death curse, and from what we’d seen so far, it could very well cause the death of dozens of students – and if we stick around long enough, our lives as well.

“I’m not sure. If someone is doing this intentionally in the hopes of a death curse, the remaining spirit will be used to implement the death curse. But if this happened purely by chance because the schools sits in a closed off location, then there’s no telling what would happen.” Naru’s face was solemn as he stared at the rest of us. He didn’t like the situation that we’d found ourselves in any more than any of us did either.

Monk shifted awkwardly. “Then if just one spirit is remaining. The school it has taken possession of will have to feed it, just like the homeowner does, right?” he points out, a drop of sweat sliding down the side of his face. Like, the way they’d feed a human to the bug.”

Ayako stands up, “hold on!” she protests, looking very distressed.

“But that’s how it _works_.” Monk insists. “If it’s not fed, then the homeowner is eaten.”

“But it’s different in this case. Who would the homeowner be?” John wonders, looking just as distressed as Ayako. Masako had been oddly silent during all of this as she watched Naru make all of these deductions. I wonder what her thoughts are on all of this.

Naru leans back against the wall and looks down. “Probably the students that summoned the spirits.” He admits bluntly.

“Can we do anything to stop that?”

None of those students knew what they were doing when they started Ouija boarding, and if all the students get eaten, that includes Yasu too. I’ve faced shit that was arguably worse than this; there has to be something that we can do. It’s a lot of lives that would be lost. And it would go public very fast. This was just a recipe for disaster. What even _could_ we do?

“There’s nothing I can do.” Naru whispers, causing everyone to jump back in shock at his answer. “However,” he continues, “Lin, any thoughts?” Lin was the resident Chinese expert, and our very own onmyoji to boot. Surely, he would know _something_. I didn’t like the idea of leaving it like this. And judging on the sighs of relief from around the room, the others were praying that Lin had a solution as well. Yasu looked pale and sick to his stomach – the poor guy would be one of the victims unless we find a way to deal with this.

Lin pulls off his headphones and turns to face the entire room. “Koduku is a form of cursing that is considered to be lost among parapsychologists. In my entire career, I’ve never even heard of anyone coming across one.” Well that didn’t sound good at all. Lin, who had worked with Oliver freaking Davis for who knows how long, hadn’t even _heard_ of someone coming across one. Not even any type of hearsay or anything. This is a unique case, and definitely something that is worthy of note. I’d have to spread some info about this around discrete channels later. If someone needed information on a koduku curse, then I don’t want them to go in blind like we had. That just wasn’t a good idea.

“If this koduku was performed as part of a zuzou curse, it’ll behave the same as any other zuzou. Breaking the curse would not be too difficult. But if this is somehow the product of chance, then there will be only two distinct ways to deal with the problem.”

Naru made eye contact with Lin. “Transferring it to someone or giving in and feeding it.”

Lin nodded. “Right.”

“We still don’t know if this is a koduku. If a zuzou is being used, Lin can take care of it. But we should continue with our investigation.” Naru decided.

* * *

“Man, I really hope that Naru convinces the principal to let us stay.” I murmur quietly as we stand around the base. I had gone over to the snack corner and gotten myself another couple bags of high calorie snacks before sitting down beside Yasu and beginning to complete some school assignments. After our discussion on the idea that we might be dealing with a koduku, Naru had gone to the principal to ask for just a little more time.

Despite his cold façade, he didn’t like the idea of leaving the students here to their fate. It was part of the reason that he took cases in the first place – deep down, he wanted to help people too.

In the meantime, we were just sitting in the base and awaiting orders. I figure that I can get ahead on one of my papers while I wait. I would sketch, but I’ve already filled a couple pages of my case notebook as well as my dream journal with drawings of the spirit larvae that I had seen in my dreams. I had kept diligent notes throughout the case, so there wasn’t anything else for me to do. It was better than sitting around or pacing.

“If they boot us out of here, then the case is as good as lost.” Bou-san said. “But, knowing Naru, he’ll make it work. Even though he told us to keep investigating, I’m not really sure what to do.” Oh right, he had told us to keep investigating. But there really wasn’t much that we could do. Naru and Lin already knew all there was to know about the koduku curse itself, and it wasn’t like we could exactly roam the halls right now. I guess I could try dreaming, but I wasn’t feeling tired, and Gene had been very nervous the last time I saw him. Who’s to say that I’d even be able to have a dream. It wasn’t something that I did on command.

“Use your brain for once,” Ayako scolded, coming up to stand behind the sitting Monk. He turned around, grinning up brightly at the priestess. 

“Same applies to you! Wait, I’m sorry, I forgot. You don’t have a brain–” he was cut off before he could finish his taunt by Ayako _punching him so hard that he flew out of his seat._ “Hey, easy! My cranium can only take so much abuse!” he yelled, moving to get in her face, but oh bOY was she angry.

“Shut up! You don’t even know what ‘cranium’ means!”

John and I exchanged a glance before nervously standing up and approaching the loudly arguing duo. “Hey that’s enough!” I call, edging towards them.

John smiled wearily, “please, can’t you just get along?” he pleaded.

“Maybe we should use this time to organize the information we have.” Yasu pipes up from behind us, holding up various notebooks and stapled booklets of paper that we had for this case (I was not looking forwards to filing _any_ of that when this case was over). “It’s gotta be better than this, right?”

I sighed, “yeah.” It wouldn’t be all that fun trying to focus over the sounds of Monk and Ayako screaming at each other, but we couldn’t all be like Lin and just put on noise cancelling headphones and re-watch footage as well as do some more onmyoji specific research. Lin got lucky.

“To start off, Orikiri-sama – which is a form of Ouija boarding – became popular here around school around the end of summer vacation last year.” Yasu began, recapping what we’ve pieced together from the case so far. “Immediately after that, the school became inundated with stories of ghost sightings.”

“Because the school happens to be in a spiritually closed in location, the spirits that were summoned here were trapped here.” I added in, assuming Naru’s typical thinking pose.

John looked down at the papers in front of us seriously. “Those spirits began feeding on each other, creating a situation common to a koduku curse.”

“It’s kind of like a supernatural sumo match!” Yasu suddenly said, brightly smiling at us and making John sigh in a fond exasperation. How Yasu could be so cheerful when he was facing being devoured by spirits, I don’t know.

That’s when I remembered something odd – an observation that I’d made about Orikiri-sama back when Yasu had first told me about it. “You know the way that they do Orikiri-sama with the chant and everything? It’s so different from the times that _I’ve_ played with a Ouija board.” This caught even Ayako and Monk’s attention.

John shook his head and looked wearily at me. He seemed to know that I was on to something but wasn’t quite connecting the dots that I saw. “There are many different ways of doing it depending on what region you’re in.

“Yeah, but even the paper that they’re using is weird.” I popped open my notebook and looked at the small paper that I had taped in. It was certainly an odd Ouija board, nothing like the one that Nekozawa had given us. “It has the alphabet, numbers, and the yes and no. So, everything is normal up to that point. But I thought that in order to be a Ouija board, you’d have to draw a torii arch in the middle. In this version they have a squiggly pattern there instead. Plus, they have the character for demon encircling the entire thing.”

Lin launches himself up from his chair at the sound of my words, wrenching the headphones away from his ears. “What?!” he demanded harshly, staring at me with an intense look in his eye snot all that dissimilar to Naru. “What kind of pattern is it?”

I frown slightly but move towards the white board still in the corner of the room and open a marker to begin drawing. “I have a photographic memory,” I explain as I quickly draw every single detail from that page. It also helped that I had studied every single plane and design on the copy that I had. I don’t know why I didn’t show Lin that I had one in my book, but they probably just assumed that I took notes.

“You said it was called Orikiri-sama,” Lin continues as he watches me draw. “That comes from the incantation used, right? On Orikiri- te merite, Mewei ashimari souwoka.”

Yasu looked up at the tall Chinese man in surprise. “That’s it!”

“And then after you use the paper, you’re supposed to bury it somewhere.”

Yasu nods, “yeah, exactly. You can only use it once, and when you’re done with it, you have to dispose of it at a particular shrine.”

I’m suddenly reminded of the dream that I’d had where I’d stood in front of a small shrine in those moments before Gene approached me. I knew that that shrine had some sort of importance, but I didn’t think… “There wouldn’t happen to be a shrine nearby, would there? A little one, with a small torii gateway and foxes?” I ask, directing my question at Yasu. Despite knowing about my prophetic dreams, both Lin and Yasu still looked kind of stunned at my input.

“That’s right down the street!” I had just finished the Orikiri-sama board and wheeled it around to show the others. Upon seeing it, Yasu was quick to show his incredulity. “That’s exactly it. How did you do that?” he asked confused, staring at it in awe.

Lin looked really worried now – and I know that I have to worry; Lin was showing emotion. “Can you take us to that shrine?”

* * *

Sure enough, when Yasu lead us right to the shrine, it was identical to the one from my dream. “Incredible.” I mumble, staring at it with a critical eye. My dreams were definitely prophetic, and I was beginning to understand why Gene kept urging me to leave. Who knows what can affect me in that spirit plane.

“This is where you bury them, right?” Lin asked.

Yasu nods again, although he looked confused at the relevance of our current position. “It is, but what does that have to do with the case?” Lin was interrupted before he could respond to Yasuhara’s question by the arrival of two girls that were classmates of Yasu. One of them had a sheet of paper clutched tightly to her chest, and they both looked very spooked by our presence.

“Oh no, there’s someone here. We’re not supposed to let anyone see us do this.”

Unbelievable.

“I don’t believe this! I told them not to do that anymore!” Bou-san yells, looking ready to stomp over to the girls and rip them a new one.

Lin walked past him and over towards the girls. “Excuse me, I need to look at that piece of paper.” Lin said seriously, holding his hand out expectantly.

Yasu was quick to rush over and reassure the two girls. “Uh, it’s fine. You’re not in trouble or anything.” Oh, I beg to differ, but at least they handed over the paper to Lin.

“I knew it.” He crumpled the paper in his hand. “To confound a crossroads, to kill underneath a shrine.” He seems to recite, spooking the others – especially the two girls in front of him. “This is a talisman. When one of these is used and then buried underneath a shrine, it curses a person to death.” He turned on his heel and began to make his way back to the school in a hurry.

Yasu quickly apologized to the other two girls before joining the rest of us in running after Lin.

This wasn’t looking good for the students of Rokuryo High School. 

* * *

“A talisman.” Naru raised an eyebrow as he took the offered paper from Lin, subtly glancing between it and the drawing that I’d done on the whiteboard. I felt a surge of satisfaction rush through me at his subtle impressed look.

“Yes.” Lin confirmed. “If it’s buried at a crossroads, it will confuse a person. And if it’s buried under a shrine, it’s a death sentence. Someone spread these talismans around the school, falsely claiming it was harmless Ouija boards. Whoever’s participated in this has aided in casting a death curse.”

Yasu looked scandalized as he flinched backward. “No way!”

“We should consider ourselves lucky that the person behind this was an amateur. A professional like me could easily kill someone with one of these.” Well wasn’t that an unsettling confession to make, Lin.

Naru looked up from the paper in his hand, making eye contact with Lin. “Judging from the evidence that we have thus far, it’s obvious we’re up against a koduku curse.”

“I agree.”

“What will happen once the koduku is complete?” he glanced down at the paper in his hand, seemingly deliberating about something.

“The person whose name is written on the talisman will die.”

Naru looked up sharply. “And who would that be?” he asked the question that everyone in the room was itching to know.

“Matsuyama Hideharu.”


	16. File 5 - Part 4

_“Matsuyama Hideharu.”_

* * *

“Wait… you don’t mean that teacher that’s been bugging us… do you?” I asked slowly. It wasn’t normally like me to forget a name, but I had to admit, that his had escaped me for a moment. Of course, because the universe works in mysterious ways, that’s when the door slid open to reveal the man of the hour himself. He had this awful smirk on his face, and I could really see how you could mistake him for a demon. It didn’t surprise me in the least that this was a man who drove a student to suicide. It really didn’t.

“You were asked to leave, but it doesn’t look like you’re packing up.” He sneered, a triumphant look on his face. “Are you coming up with more bogus ghost stories to tell?” This man was insufferable. He’d witnessed the giant spirit dog – you’d think he’d believe his own eyes. Also, did he really think that I managed to a. break through the entire floor in the nurse’s office, and b. collapse a ceiling, all by myself? Was this man an idiot?

Naru turned to glare coolly at the smirking man. “I think it would be in your best interest if you didn’t hear our discussion.” He said simply.

“Are you trying to plan how to justify your fee or something?” Matsuyama was so fucking cocky, and it took Monk literally planting his hands on my shoulders to stop my involuntary lurch forwards. As it was, I was hard-pressed to not growl at the man. He was just the kind of stuck up that I hated. “It’s about time you cut your losses. We know you’re a fraud. What is that?” the man that had seemed so self-satisfied only moments before was now staring in confusion at the copy of Orikiri-sama that Naru was holding up.

“Sir, were you aware that Ouija boarding has become popular among the students at this school?” Naru asked, a challenging note in his voice. Oh boy, he’s going to do the thing.

Matsuyama just scoffed, “what, you mean that stupid game?”

“This is the board that is used for what’s called ‘Orikiri-sama’. Someone has been spreading these around school and not realizing the dangerous implications.”

Matsuyama glared at him and crossed his arms defensively. Naru was being so stoic about this, and that was making the man nervous. He had come in here expecting to be victorious, but Naru’s attitude was not one of someone who was defeated. “Why are you telling me this?”

“These talismans are used solely for performing a death curse.”

“Death curse?” he laughed, his cockiness returning at the ‘preposterous’ declaration. “That’s ridiculous. You expect me to believe a piece of paper can kill someone?” His smirked over at us and asked mockingly, “who do you think this silly ‘death curse’ is for?”

Naru stared him down, his face stormy as he continued to hold out the paper towards Matsuyama. I could tell that that power move was unsettling him. “You.” He said bluntly, “and it’s very real.” Matsuyama flinched backward violently at Naru’s blunt statement. Naru turned his head slowly towards Lin and handed him the paper. “Isn’t that right, Lin?” He was just as annoyed with Matsuyama as I was, it appeared.

“Yes.”

The shakiness in his frame had melted away and turned into anger. He was lashing out in his denial. How cute. “Hey, that’s not something you joke about!”

I cock my head to the side and level him with a blank stare. “What on earth makes you think that we’re joking?” I ask slightly mockingly. Honestly, we could always just let this curse take its toll. The guy was an asshole, would it be such a loss? Matsuyama shot me a glare, and I just sneered at him in return. I didn’t want to waste my time on this guy.

Lin turned to Monk. “Takigawa-san. Are you able to read sand script?” He handed the paper over to the monk.

“Yeah, more or less.” He agreed, taking the paper from the onmyoji.

“Look at the talisman.” Lin explained, his monotone voice just making the presentation of the scene before me all the better. Every little element of how this was playing out was making Matsuyama uneasy, and I fucking loved it. “The name on the right side is the person being cursed.”

There was a small smirk on Bou-san’s lips as he read the paper. “Let’s see here, that can only be read as Matsuyama Hideharu.” He confirmed.

Lin took the paper back and continued his detached analysis. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be written in sand script. In fact, on the left side of the talisman, the age of the cursed is in kanji. Karma, would you mind reading that.”

“My pleasure,” I smirk, leaning forwards and reading from the paper. “It says; ‘Tousai Goju-san’ which translates into 53 years old this year. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s around that age.” I say, looking pointedly over the edge of the paper at the teacher, my gold eyes glinting in the orange light of the setting sun.

“Writing out the kanji in this way is more of a formality. However…”

“If Matsuyama was written normally, anyone could be the suspect, that’s why they went through the trouble of writing it in sand script.” I grin, finishing Lin’s sentence for him. Naru nodded in agreement and I admit that I preened a little at the subtle praise. These games of revenge and betrayal, I was well versed in.

Matsuyama looked scandalized and honestly shocked. “What? Who the hell would do this?” he asked as if he wasn’t aware of just how much that everyone else hated him.

“The person who made Orikiri-sama so popular was a freshman in the art club. This is an advanced form of cursing that no ordinary student could easily come up with. It would have to be someone who had done extensive research on the subject.” Naru dropped the bomb and watched with muted satisfaction as Matsuyama freaked the fuck out.

“That damn Sakauchi! It was him! That punk, how could he do something like this? Why did he choose me?” Matsuyama wailed.

Oh.

He really was that oblivious to how much of an asshole he was.

“I don’t know sir, you certainly had an interesting response when you found out that I’d jumped off a cliff in middle school.” I taunt, my grin was all teeth now, and the sun glinting off my eyes was making them almost glow. If the way that Monk shifted away from me slightly meant anything, then I looked pretty damn terrifying. Heck yeah. “I can’t possibly see why someone would want to kill you.” I purr.

“Mr. Matsuyama, forgive me, but would you like to know the reason that Sakauchi chose you?” Yasu demanded, standing up suddenly and slamming his hands on the table in front of him.

“Why?”

“Because of how you treated him. His suicide note simply said; ‘I’m not a dog.’ We were all aware that the school was trying to control us as if we _were_ dogs. And if you would ask any of the students who personified this type of treatment, they would all name _you_ without any sign of hesitation, and I would agree with them wholeheartedly.

Naru broke the tense atmosphere, keen on moving forwards with the situation we were currently in. “The identity of the culprit is of little use to us at this point. The die has already been cast against you. Not even the originator of the curse could stop it now.

“Well what can you do?” Matsuyama demanded.

Naru looked over his shoulder slightly and asked Lin. “Do we have a solution?”

“Nothing yet.”

“You could reverse the zuzou, right?” Naru asks suddenly.

Lin raises an eyebrow. “I could do that, but are you certain you would want to?”

“We don’t have much choice, do we?” “I doubt may people would mourn him if he died, but we can’t stand idly by when he knows that it’s going to happen. Reverse the zuzou.”

Bou-san raised an eyebrow. “You’re going through with this?”

“We’ll be turning the zuzou curse back on the one who started it. We have very little time before the last few spirits finish consuming each other and complete the zuzou. Once that occurs, death is all that awaits Mr. Matsuyama. Most likely in a very painful, brutal way. But before that happens…” Naru was cut off by Matsuyama doing an odd combination of hyperventilating and hysterically laughing.

“I’ll be spared, won’t I?” He asks, his eye twitching as he laughs. “I didn’t do anything, why should I be the one to die? I’m innocent.” Innocent my ass. He’s about as innocent as I am. AKA _really_ not.

“Sir,” Naru began sharply, “need I remind you that you were the cause of this?” he asks sharply. Matsuyama actually looked shocked. “Don’t forget that.”

“Wait a minute Naru, Sakauchi isn’t even alive anymore. Can you even reverse a zuzou onto a dead person?” Monk asked confused.

Naru narrowed his eyes before glancing over at where the rest of us were standing around the table. “Turning the zuzou back on the deceased is impossible. But that’s irrelevant because he’s not the one responsible for the zuzou in the first place.” He turned to face us fully, closing his eyes as if preparing for a loud response. “When you reverse a zuzou it returns to whoever cast it. Although they weren’t aware of the consequences, the students are responsible for starting the zuzou.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly, glancing around and taking in everyone else’s shocked expressions. “What will happen to them?” This entire thing was getting far too messy. If the zuzou is returned to the caster, and the casters were the students, then the foxfires were going to go after the students. Yasu had paled significantly since this conversation began, and I know that he knew _exactly_ how this was going to end if we reversed the curse. Naru didn’t answer me, instead he just met my eyes with a serious look. I held my tongue.

Everyone sorta whirled around to stare at me and when I didn’t offer any kind of protest, I heard a bunch of scandalized gasps from behind me. “Karma! You’re not bothered by this? This could kill everyone.” Ayako stuttered nervously, looking at me in shock.

I shrugged before raising my hands up in a ‘what can ya do’ gesture. “Hey, they got themselves into this. They shouldn’t have messed with the Ouija boards – no offense, Yasu – that was really stupid. In this world, you can’t afford to be stupid anymore. If Mr. Matsuyama dies, the curse will return to the students, and they will be accessory to murder. Besides, it’s not like there’s anything else we can do. We have two options, turn it on the casters, or let it run its course. Since you’re all very against letting him die, that only leaves one option.” I tell them seriously.

“You’re a monster!” Matsuyama said, looking at me in horror. What a hypocrite! Just moments before he was doing the same bullshit himself. He was fully willing to do whatever it takes to make sure he gets out alive, but the second that I, a teenager, don’t put up much of a fuss, suddenly _I’m_ insensitive and crazy.

“Get off your high horse.” I scoff. “Let’s get something straight, you’re far from the first teacher that I’d have crossed, _sir._ I’m not exactly in your favour – I’d be more than happy to do nothing about this. Is it really all that bad to just… let you meet your fate? It’s your fault that Sakauchi killed himself after all.” I hear some soft gasps from behind me, but I’m on a roll now and I’m going to finish this taunt. I’m sick and tired of these authoritarian teachers who are stuck on some fucking dumb power trip. “I can live with the guilt of letting you die, can you live with the guilt of knowing that _you_ are the reason that a kid killed himself, that _you_ are the one that countless students in this school hate enough to curse? Don’t try and kid yourself, there are students here who could read the sand script. They’re smart kids, _some_ of them knew what they were doing, _and they still did it anyways._ ”

And that was true too, wasn’t it. I was a killer, I knew how to deal with the guilt. He was a teacher who had just been confronted with the fact that someone hated him enough to very literally curse him to death.

“Mr. Shibuya, what will happen to us students?” Yasu asked, turning to look away from the rest of us so that we couldn’t see his face. He must have thought that he wouldn’t be able to keep his composure.

“Since there is such a large number of students, the power _should_ be divided evenly between everyone, weakening its effects. At least, that’s what I hope will happen.”

“We came to you to resolve this matter, if there’s really no other way to finish this…” Yasu trailed off, turning back to face everyone and looking at Naru with an uncertain gaze. He looked much younger than 17. Here he was, facing his possible death, and he was doing it rather gracefully. I’ll give him that.

“There isn’t.”

Yasu closed his eyes tightly before bowing to Naru sharply. “Then you have our permission to go through with this.”

Matsuyama looked taken aback. The other members of SPR looked away, somberly accepting that our hands were tied. I glared over at the teacher accusingly. If only he wasn’t such an asshole, and now look at him – he’s going to be responsible for a lot of death and injury.

He couldn’t handle the pressure and he fled the room.

As soon as he was out of hearing range, I turned to look over at Naru, placing my hands on my hips. “So… are we planning on killing the student body or are we gonna use hitogatas or some shit to take the damage?” I ask bluntly. Naru’s head shot up to look at me, staring with wide eyes as a look of realization came over his face.

“That… that just might work.” He muttered under his breath, his mouth barely moving. Then he shot up, heading for the door. “Lin, let’s go. We have a lot to do and not much time.”

* * *

[Day 6]

“It’s awfully quiet, huh.” Ayako shivered slightly, wrapping her arms around herself in a hug.

Masako looked around the school with wide eyes, “the only thing I’m sensing right now is a big void. It feels as if this place is deserted.” She admitted. To be fair, I was getting sort of the same vibe. It was like there was simply _nothing_ here. It was odd, but not exactly unsettling? It felt very peaceful, especially in comparison to how it was just last night. I didn’t realize just how awful this place had made me feel until that feeling vanished.

Still, there was a strong feeling of trepidation as we approached the school. Was Naru able to find a way for the students to not get hurt? Or were we going to walk into a gym full of corpses. “It feels like classes should have started already.” I murmur softly.

“Hey! Come and check out the gymnasium!” Bou-san calls as we all head over to look into the small windows. “It looks like they’re having a school assembly. I guess that means the zuzou hasn’t been reversed.”

I wouldn’t be so sure. Looking through the windows, it was easy to see row after row of uniform shoes, but our eyes can deceive us, especially when onmyodo is involved. Either way, we headed into the school to check on Naru and Lin. They were holed up in the base with the lights off, the only light source being a small candle. I peaked through the window in the door a little before turning towards the others. “They’re performing the reversal now. We shouldn’t bother them.” I say quietly before walking towards the stairwell in between the base and the gymnasium.

The halls were oddly quiet as we walked through them. The empty feeling was still there – everything was quiet, and I didn’t really know how I felt about it. “So… do we just wait?” Ayako asked. I pointedly plopped down on a step and leaned back against the wall.

“Is there anything else that we can do?” I asked rhetorically as I situated myself so that I wasn’t pressing my tail into any uncomfortable places on the wall. I’d pinched my tail more than enough times to know that it was absolute _murder_ and I never wanted to do it again. Picture getting your junk caught in a zipper and you have the basic sensation – just less mutilation.

The others seemed to contemplate my answer for a moment before sitting down in various areas in the staircase. There was a moment of silence before John spoke suddenly. “So, Karma, how are your classes going?”

Since we didn’t know just how long Naru and Lin would take, I figured there was no harm in unleashing my complaints. I was just getting stuff off my chest, and besides, I loved to gossip, and it wasn’t like any of the Class E kids wanted to listen to me throw shade at some of my dumbass classmates.

“Let me tell _you_! There’s this asshole in my accounting basics class, and you should have _heard_ the racist and sexist shit he was going on about…”

* * *

It took maybe 5 hours before Naru and a seemingly worse for wear Lin came down the stairs. They walked past us and almost immediately I ran down the steps to the gymnasium. Naru had never said that he would use hitogata, but I was eager to see what had happened. If there were a bunch of corpses in the gym, I could handle that and warn the others – I’d seen more than enough corpses in my life to not be _too_ bothered by them anymore. The others…

And if he _did_ end up using hitogata – which with how he vehemently refused to leave Matsuyama to his fate (well not really vehemently, but in his own little way it was a _little_ ) – I was curious to see how it worked out. It had been 5 hours! Forgive me for being a bit impatient.

The others were quick to follow behind me, and just as I slid open the door, the others arrived right there. Sure enough, there were no people in the gymnasium and instead, there was dozens of hitogata. They covered the entire floor of the gym. It was actually hecka impressive. Lin had to have made a hitogata for every student in the school! “Wow,” I whisper involuntarily as I reach down and pick up one of the hitogata. It practically shattered in my hand and I stared at it with unconcealed awe. It looks like we’d really done it.

“Bou-san! I want you and John to check all the hitogata.” Naru ordered, walking past the others and through the doors into the gymnasium and bending down to pick up one of the hitogata beside me. He looked it over speculatively before continuing to use his orders. “Matsuzaki-san, Hara-san, Karma… split up and check all the names on any of the unbroken hitogata.”

“Hai!”

We need to make sure that it was the hitogata that had taken the damage. It was both nerve-wracking and unbelievably exhilarating to check over the dolls. These represented real people, and if they hadn’t taken the damage, then the student had. Judging by the state of some of the dolls, it would have been fatal.

(It’s times like this that I wonder how Taniyama would have reacted to a situation like this. Just think, if I hadn’t chosen to walk to school early, I wouldn’t have been there when she broke the camera. If I hadn’t been there, perhaps Mai would have been the one to be chosen as Naru’s replacement assistant. She was kind of a dopey girl. Would she had called Naru a murderer for pulling this stunt?

I remembered the looks on the others’ faces from last night; they didn’t even think about hitogata as substitutes. Would Mai have?)

“Transferring a curse to a hitogata is extremely difficult. Even Lin was unsure as to whether everyone would be safe,” Naru explained as he bent down to look at all the surrounding hitogata, checking for damage and names. “There’s a lot of room for error here, and I’d hate to have all this work be for nothing.” This was said quieter, he didn’t want the others to hear his uncertainty.

I shrug, “it’s better than having not tried at all. I’d hate to have to clean up bodies, and the political mess,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood. Naru’s lips twitch slightly, but that’s the best I got. I figure that that’s still better than his oddly worried look. Usually Naru’s pretty confident, so to have him showing even a little bit of doubt was a big thing.

* * *

In the end, we only found 3 hitogata that weren’t broken. A quick trip to the former base, and Ayako, Masako and I busied ourselves with calling them, to make sure that we didn’t accidentally kill anyone of course.

“Just to be clear, you’ve never messed around with Orikiri-sama, right? Okay… thanks for your help!” I chirped with faux cheer as I hung up the phone. “We’re okay guys. Nothing happened to her.”

Masako sighed in audible relief before answering that the person she called was okay as well. A minute or two later, and Ayako confirmed that her person was also fine.

It looks like we got the job done without any casualties.

It was nice, having happy endings to a case. Nothing like the demon cases where you just sort of feel defeated even after a successful case. Here, it was like we were doing _good_. Technically speaking, getting rid of demons was doing more good – we got rid of something that was actually _killing_ people

And wasn’t that an odd thing?

* * *

Luckily for us, we had packed up all the equipment the night before, and we were ready to leave by the time that classes were cut for the day. Lin and the others had already taken their respective rides back to the city, but Monk and I had stayed to say our last goodbyes to Yasu. Monk had volunteered to drive me home, since we apparently lived close to each other.

“I wanted to thank you for what you’ve done. And since Sakauchi’s curse is what started this whole mess, I was thinking of holding a memorial service for him to keep any possibility of future problems in check.” Yasu beamed at the two of us.

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Monk acknowledged.

“It makes me wonder, is Sakauchi disappointed that the curse didn’t happen? Or is he relieved?” I murmur quietly, looking up at the school that we were leaving. Rokuryo high school certainly had a tall building – I wonder what it’s like on the roof. Is it peaceful?

Monk looked at me oddly. “How do you think he feels?” he asked slowly.

I shrug lazily, “well to be honest, I’m really not sure.” Sakauchi had gone to all the trouble to get rid of Matsuyama (someone that I might send a hit out on anyways) and we had foiled his plan. Us; people who should’ve been on his side. If he were still around, would he be displeased? “I’d like to think that he would be happy that no one was hurt, but I don’t have that kind of faith in peoples’ character. Do you know what I mean?”

Monk smiled sadly at me before turning to Yasu, trying to lighten the mood. “By the way, Yasu! Tell me the truth, you were scared back there, weren’t ya.”

“Oh, you mean when Naru and Lin said they’d be reversing the zuzou back on us?” Yasu said, smiling slyly. “Well, you see, I had faith…” with an opening like that he could only be about to go on a spiel about believing in Naru and trust or whatever. Ugh.

“In what?” Monk asked curiously.

“In myself.” Monk fell backwards in shock at Yasu’s answer and I couldn’t stop myself from doubling over in laughter. It was just so far from what I had expected him to say, and Monk’s reaction was absolutely perfect. It didn’t help that Yasu calmly adjusted his glasses like some anime character (not unlike Kyoya). “I’ve never done anything so bad that would warrant me dying at such a young age, so I was confident that out of everyone at least I would come out of it unscathed!” he grinned brightly.

“You’ll live a long life with that attitude.”

“That’s what I plan on!”

Just as I had finished with my bout of laughter, he said this, and I was sent to the ground roaring all over again. This time Monk and Yasu joined me in my uncontrollable giggles. “You’re unbelievable, Yasu.” I snickered as I got up from the ground and approached Yasu.

He winked at me exaggeratedly, going for suave and falling a mile short. “I try.” I roll my eyes before opening my arms and pulling the taller teen into a hug. He returned the gesture with an equal amount of gusto.

I leaned into the hug, moving forwards to whisper in Yasu’s ear so that Monk wouldn’t be able to hear. “If Matsuyama ever becomes a problem again, just let me know. I have ways of making sure that the problem is taken care of. Nothing I said during this case was a lie.” I whisper, feeling him stiffen slightly. Yasuhara was a very logical person, and if I guessed correctly about his morals, he wouldn’t exactly shy away from this comment.

He hadn’t put up any protest when Matsuyama was in danger of being killed. Even Naru had deemed that not okay, interesting.

“I’m sure I’ll have to take you up on that offer. Is it a standing one?”

I grin into his shoulder before releasing him from the hug and stepping back slightly. “Of course. As is this one.” I pull a small envelope out of my pocket and hand it to him. “For your eyes only, of course.” His eyes burn with curiosity, but he pockets the envelope and smiles brightly at me.

“Well, we should be off then! I have a class in 5 hours!” I call cheerfully, heading over to the passenger seat of Monk’s car. He rolled his eyes but dutifully headed over to the driver’s seat.

“Bye!”

* * *

Despite having a class in the evening, Naru had requested my presence at the office as soon as possible. I had a feeling that he wanted to talk about my dreams and Gene, so I was sure to bring my case and dream notebooks. “Hey Naru! I’m here! I’ll be in the office in just a moment, I’m making tea.” I call as I waltz my way into the kitchen to brew a pot of tea. I have no idea how long this conversation will end up being, but who knows what he wants to talk about tonight.

I didn’t get a response, but I continued on my way, nonetheless. When the tea was ready, I barged in to his office like I owned the place because _confidence is key_. He was writing something in a file, but he looked up as soon as I entered. “Karma, do you have your dream journal with you? I’d like to take a look at it.” There was the Naru I knew; all work and no play. I set down the tray of tea and handed him both notebooks.

“The one on top contain my notes from our cases specifically, but the other has all the dreams that I believe to be astral projections. It dates back to about a year ago when I first saw Gene. He gave me a warning that helped me save someone’s life.” I explain as I pull up a wheelie chair (he had two in his office? Why?) and grab a cup of tea. He takes his own and calmly sips it as he flips through my notebook at an impressive speed.

“You’re right to assume that these dreams are astral projections. This isn’t simple intuition of clairvoyance.” He tells me seriously as he makes some notes. If you get the chance to see Gene again, I expect you to come to me immediately.”

I nod neutrally, running my finger around the rim of my teacup. “Hey Naru?” I ask suddenly, causing him to raise an eyebrow at me. “This might sound pretty awful, but how did Gene die? I’m pulling up dead end leads without that kind of information.” I had put some feelers out in the paranormal and normal community, but nothing had turned up so far. Most just pointed me in the direction of Shibuya Psychic Research, and that was kind of pointless to me.

“He was hit by a red car, license plate 62-46, a bright red Toyota; I don’t know the model. He was hit once, but didn’t die right away, so the killer ran over him again. The driver was a woman dressed in high end clothing and jewelry. She rolled his body in a blanket and managed to get him into her trunk. From there, she dumped him in a lake. Is that enough detail?” his said stiffly. I was surprised at the detail that he had provided, but then I remembered that he had psychometry. What a way to find out that your twin brother died.

Damn.

“That should be enough to get me a lead.” I agree, placing my cup on the table. “Is there a hair colour that I can look for? If she’s recognizable and in the underground, I can find her.” I tell him softly, aware of how silent the office was.

“She was blonde. Dyed.”

“I’ll get back to you as soon as I hear anything.”

We fell into a comfortable silence for a while, before I looked up at the clock. “I need to get home. I have an early class tomorrow.” I say as I grab my coat and get up from the chair. He nods and turns back towards his work. Typical – but I can’t really blame him. I doubt that he liked reliving his brother’s death, so just this once, I’ll cut him some slack.

I locked the door to the office as I left and made my way down the street. I pull out my phone and thumb through my contacts, glaring at any and all passersby. As soon as I heard the click of the receiver I began talking.

“Hey Kyoya. Listen, I need a favour.”


	17. File 6 - Part 1

_Help_

_Help_

_HELP ME_

_H E L P M E P L E A S E_

* * *

_I don’t want to die._

* * *

[April]

[Day 1]

“I’ve accepted a new contract. It’s a very high-profile case.” Naru declares, looking around the room at all of us. He’d had me call Ayako, Monk, John, Masako, and Yasu here earlier this morning, claiming that he would need all of them for this case. He’d looked worried this morning, and I had rushed to get everyone here. If Naru was worried, we should all be worried. “The client has requested that we exercise the utmost confidentiality – if the media got involved it would no doubt blow up into a massive story. I think the safest bet would be if we all worked together.”

Masako leaned forwards slightly and looked at Naru with confusion. “Excuse me, but did you speak with a Mr. Ohashi?”

“Did you get a call from him too?” Naru asked, a raised eyebrow being the only outward sign of him not knowing about this development.

“Yes.”

“So, tell us,” Ayako leaned forwards, clearly intrigued now. “Who are we talking about?”

Naru opened his notebook and began to explain further. “Mr. Ohashi is just a representative. The actual client would be–” he pulled out a newspaper clipping and dropped it on the table.

“Are you serious? Isn’t that the ex prime minister?” Ayako gasped in shock, staring at the paper. She was right, it was. This didn’t bode well.

Monk stared at the clipping with wide eyes from beside the self-styled priestess. “Wow, that would be a major story for the press.”

Naru nodded. “Which is why we should avoid attention as much as possible. And a good way to start is by asking Yasu here to stand in for me.”

Yasu looked honestly surprised as he stared wide eyed at Naru. “Uh… what are you talking about?” It was an odd request, but because I knew who he was and why he wanted to avoid anyone possibly recognizing him in any way, I got why he was making this request of Yasu. Yasu even looked close enough to Naru that if the clients had already heard stuff about him, it would be believable.

But just because I understood doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to poke fun at him a little bit.

“So that’s the reason why you asked him to come here, Naru. I thought it might be so that we could celebrate him passing all of his exams!” I say cheerfully, keeping to the script that I subconsciously wrote for myself. I make eye contact with Yasu and wink at him. Both him and Naru have two different pieces of the puzzle that is my life, and it was entertaining to have such good co-actors for this particular play.

I’d been in contact with Yasu a lot recently. He had been a major asset since he’d been recruited.

* * *

_“Um hello? I was given this number by a friend? Uh… there wasn’t much more information on the card…” Yasu’s voice trails off. I grin, so he called after all. I had deliberately been mysteriously when I gave him the envelope – only writing a single phone number on a blank white card. Yasuhara seemed like a curious guy – giving him something like that would be irresistible to him. Plus, this is one of the stereotypical mafia type things. I just couldn’t resist._

_I hit the answer call button, “Yasu! I’m so glad you called?” I call cheerfully._

_The astonishment was clear in his voice, “Karma? Couldn’t you have just given me your number in a simpler way?” I snicker quietly before folding my hands in front of me and leaning forwards towards the phone._

_“But where’s the fun in that? Besides, this isn’t a personal number. I’m offering you a job.”_

_“With SPR? I thought that Naru was the boss.” He says confused. Oh, I was having a little too much fun with this…_

_“It’s not an offer at SPR. I’m just an assistant there. But this job offer I have for you is a bit more… well, shady…” I trail off slightly._

_The trepidation in his voice was obvious. “Shady? Does this have anything to do with your… uh threats towards Mr. Matsuyama?” he asked nervously. He was hiding his emotions well, but he had nothing on Class E. He would do well in PR, or an in with political matters. I don’t foresee myself putting him on any other kind of missions if he does agree to join._

_“I’m sure you’ve heard of my organization before, we’re rather well know. We’re the ones who take the ones with special talents and make something out of them. I’d like to recruit you,” I explain. “You’d learn an awful lot with us, and I think you’d fit in.” There, that was vague enough that if he didn’t know he wouldn’t catch on. But Yasuhara was a teenager who prided himself on connections and essentially being a politician in training. Of course, he knows._

_“You want me to be a Trickster? Wait… you’re a Trickster? Why am I not surprised by that…” I couldn’t resist laughing at that response. It was such a Yasu thing to say, and although it was risky to involve someone from my SPR life with this one, I feel like he’ll fit in well. At the very least, Kyoya would like him._

_“Oh, I’m not just a Trickster, Yasuhara-san. I’m the boss. So, what do you say? Do you want it?”_

_There was a moment of silence from the other end as Yasu thought about how to answer. I wasn’t too worried that he’d turn me down though, he had a good head on his shoulders and a healthy dose of ambition. We can get him places that he wouldn’t normally, and to someone like Yasu, that would seem irresistible. All the same, it only made sense that he had some questions. “What exactly would you want me to do?”_

_It was a good question. “Well that would depend almost entirely on you. I see you having a political future, and it would be good for us to have an in. But no matter what you do, you’d essentially be an informant and a sleeper agent. You’re free to say no – we’re not your typical Yakuza type grouping – but any and all information you could give us can be useful.” I explain. You didn’t have to have any particularly special talents to be recruited. You just had to have the right mindset, intelligence, and the right mindset. Yasu had all of those._

_“You sell this well. Let’s say I agree, what happens next?”_

_I grin; I had him. “Well, I’d ask you to come in so that we can get all the… paperwork out of the way. And then your life basically continues as normal. You can get as involved in our day to day activities as you want to. My second will explain anything specific as well as keep in contact, and if you ever need anything, help is just a call away. We look after our own.”_

_There was a silence. “Alright I’m in. I’ll be at Purgatory in 3 hours then.” And then the cheeky little shit hung up._

_I knew there was a reason that I liked him._

* * *

Yasu and Kyoya had quickly struck deals about Yasu involvement and what that all entailed, and in a few short hours, Yasu had taken his place amongst the Tricksters. He fit in well, and he seemed to be enjoying his time.

So now that’s four people who know things past my cover. John, who knew about my connection to Yukio and the fact that I’d worked some demon related cases; Yasu, who now knew about my involvement in Japan’s underground; and Naru and Lin, who knew about my mixed biology and a small bit about my demon related knowledge. It had been nearly a year though, so I was impressed that people hadn’t found out. It still wasn’t my best time, but it was pretty good considering these people worked as investigators (paranormal investigators, but investigators all the same) for a living.

I was broken out of my small flashback by the entire room beginning to cheer and congratulate Yasu. Well, everyone besides myself, Naru, and Lin.

“Man, you got into college!” Monk yelled over the applause, smiling at the teen. “Way to go man!

Of course, Naru shut down the conversation and brought us all back to the current situation by snapping his book shut. It seemed to be his preferred method of shutting us all up and grabbing our attention. Admittedly it worked though. “So, do you think that you’d be willing to stand in in my place, Yasu?”

“Oh, yeah! You guys are great, and I’d be more than happy to help out.” Yasu grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head and tilting it in a puppyish manner. “Plus, I think I owe you one. I mean if it weren’t for you all, I’m pretty sure the case at my school would never even have been solved.”

“Wait a second,” Monk interrupted, “I understand why you want to steer clear of the media, but do you really think this calls for a body double?” Monk asked incredulously.

Naru nodded seriously, only giving him the bare minimum bits of information. “The client has apparently been calling in a number of psychics including some shady bottom feeders. I’m sure it’s no surprise that I have no interest in associating with those types.”

“Nice, so you’re pushing it off on Yasu just because _you_ don’t want to do it.” Monk rolled his eyes, pointedly looking at us so that we got that he was joking and expected us to all snicker. It was purely for our benefit of course.

“If you have a problem with that, no one is forcing you to stay here.”

And there Naru goes again, getting defensive and giving everyone yet another way out. We’ve all been working together for a year, I think that they would know when they could call it a quits. We haven’t even started the case yet – I swear, it was like Naru wasn’t used to being questioned. Well… he probably wasn’t, to be totally honest. He’s a genius and teaches at Cambridge. Even with his age, people respected that he knew what he was doing.

Still, he should be used to people at the very least judging his age. It had been a couple years since he’d come to Japan, and he has no real credentials here.

“Please! You should talk to me before running at the mouth.” The door of the office slams open abruptly and in walks a pink woman. Her hair was pink, and her clothes were even pink. It was shocking, and I suppressed my instincts only enough to prevent myself from falling out of my seat. That didn’t hide the ready crouch, but the others knew that I got jumpy and usually blamed incidents like this on my intuition/instincts acting weird. At least I didn’t pull a knife out this time.

“Um excuse me miss, are you looking for someone?” I ask coolly, but she _ignores me_ and simply walks over to Naru with a determined glare on her face. So far Lin hadn’t reacted in a negative way to her presence but having an unknown so close to someone I see as mine to protect sets me off.

“Here’s a shocker; when you’re asking people for favours, there’s actually an appropriate way to do it. I’ve aid this before but no, you never learn, do you.” She scolded theatrically before turning to look at us and bowing slightly. “Please excuse him. This little boy is still learning his manners!” She smiled brightly at us.

“This… little boy?!” I snicker, barely not breaking out into a cacophonous round of laughter. The others appeared to be too shocked by both the woman and what she said to do more than stare at the two with giant eyes.

Naru sighed heavily and glared weakly at me (no doubt for laughing) before looking down at his lap as if mentally preparing himself to deal with this woman. “Madoka, would you mind taking a seat and being quiet. We’re trying to work here.”

“And that’s why communication is so important!” She’s too cheerful. What the fuck? How did Naru deal with her? I hope that she’s not coming with us…

Monk leaned over slowly and whispered to the others. “Isn’t she something.”

“Who is she again??” Ayako whispered back just as furiously.

She zeroed in on the two, evidently hearing their ‘whispered’ comments. “Of course! My name is Mori Madoka.”

I looked over her curiously. “Hi? How do you know Naru?” I asked. The name didn’t ring a bell to me, and Naru hasn’t told me anything about a Madoka. Then again, we hadn’t really talked all that much about his end of things past my powers and some updates on Gene.

The woman laughed and waved off any awkwardness. “Well I guess you could say that I’m his teacher!”

“His teacher?”

“Yes, I’m the one who taught Naru about ghost hunting.” Everyone gaped at her – for good reason. I know that most of the irregulars were incredibly impressed with Naru on every case that we took, and to see the person that taught him everything that he knows. It was kind of cool. Appearances seem to be deceiving here.

Naru glared off to the side, avoiding looking at Madoka like a juvenile. How cute.

“To be completely honest, I’m the one who asked Naru to take on this case,” Madoka continued, smiling softly as she looked down at a subtly pouting Naru. “I know it’s weird and you don’t know me, but I really hope you’ll work with us.” She proceeded to bow to us, and everyone else rushed to follow suit. She had sway over Naru. This woman was a force to be reckoned with.

* * *

When we got to the site, the first thing I noticed was the stench. It wasn’t the smell of the woods or even that smell that all old buildings have; it was the stench of blood. That didn’t belong here – it smelt fresh.

The mansion itself was hug, and even the entrance area had three story ceiling and a giant staircase. The colours were dark, and even with the cavernous appearance, there was still a distinct feeling of claustrophobia. The smell of blood was even stronger inside, but still manageable. But the most disconcerting part of this was the fact that I heard _nothing_ from the house. There were at least 20 other people in this mansion, and I should have been able to hear at least one person. But I couldn’t hear anything other than us.

Staying together was going to be really important on this case.

“Welcome, thank you for coming. Please call me Ohashi. I’ve been given full authority to handle this matter on behalf of the client. If you have any questions or need to speak with him, I will be your direct contact. May I ask who is in charge here?”

“Yes, of course, that would be me, sir!” Yasu smiled brightly, waving slightly and smiling brightly at Ohashi. “My name is Shibuya Kazuya.”

Mr. Ohashi smiled and inclined his head in greeting. “So, it seems the rumours of your young age were in fact true, Shibuya-san. Who have you brought with you today?”

Yasu beamed before turning to look at us. We were standing in lines of three, flanking him on either side. None of us were quite as well dressed as Yasu, but we weren’t exactly wearing casual clothes either. “They are accomplished spiritualists and friends of mine. They have graciously offered their expertise on this case. And over here we have my assistants.” Yasu introduced, gesturing over to where Lin and I were standing on either side of Naru.

I didn’t like this place, and so it seems that neither did Lin, so we made it a point to have Naru in between us. Since the last couple of cases we’d had a bit of an understanding concerning Naru. He may be Oliver Davis and have strong PK, but those powers could kill him, and I could do things to protect us without killing myself. Seeing as Lin was essentially his bodyguard, it only made sense that we collaborated a little to keep him safe.

It was plain to see even to me that I had grown incredibly protective of Naru. All that knowledge, and yet he stayed away from the darkness in the world. It made me want to protect him.

Naru inclined his head slightly, “Kazu Narumi, sir.”

After introductions were made, Ohashi lead us down a series of hallways. Every single step we took felt heavy and with every corridor, there was a new weird piece of architecture. Like I’m talking 3 steps in the middle of a wall and doors of every size. The ground was on a slight slant and so was the edging along the walls. Everything was off-quilter, kind of like some fucked up wonderland or even a drug trip.

“This house is so weird.” I murmur as I attempt to memorize exactly where we’re going. A house like this won’t have a floorplan, and memory is going to be our best friend here.

“It’s a little more than weird.” Monk countered, looking around in awe at the odd architecture.

John’s gaze was stuck on the walls. “Hey, have you guys ever seen those paintings that are like this?” I had a flashback to Guertena and all the other bizarre art that had been included in that particular art gallery. I hope we’re not dealing with an artist gone wrong.

Ayako nods, “I was thinking about that. I wonder if the builder was an artist.”

“Come in here please,” Mr. Ohashi says as he holds open a door to a room that looked kind of like a large dinner room or maybe a conference room. I move forwards and stumble slightly as the scent of blood increases to a near overwhelming level for a second. A strong hand catches my elbow, and I shoot Naru a grateful look at his silent support. I shuffle a bit closer to him and subtly try to lean on him for support. All I could smell was blood.

“I’m fine,” I whisper quietly as Naru helps me into the seat between him and Yasu, forcing Lin to move to the other side of the table to sit beside Masako. Ayako, John, and Monk had gone over to a couple of seat over near the other side of the room. They were here as team members, so they didn’t need to be seated at the table. I suppose that I was supposed to go with them, but the blood was getting to me like it never had before.

I was no stranger to the smell of blood, but I’d never gotten sick before. This was different, and I couldn’t tell why.

“This house has been unoccupied for quite some time now. Local teenagers took advantage by sneaking in to explore and scare each other. However, two months ago it was learned that one of them went missing. A young man from the fire brigade looking for the missing boy also disappeared. Shortly thereafter, many people reported seeing foxfires inside the house.” Ohashi explained. I frowned and leaned on the table slightly while doing my best to keep my back straight. There was a group of people at the other end of the table that I didn’t like the look of. I don’t like the idea of looking weak in front of them, but my body was betraying me.

Ohashi continued his briefing. “In fact, there are many here who would swear on their very souls that this house is haunted.” Of that, I actually do not doubt. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies. “While the house was being remodeled, there were similar stories of workers disappearing. Of course, we don’t want anyone to else to come to harm, and we’d like to control anymore negative rumours, which is why you’ve all been invited here. Whoever exorcises the house successfully, may expect a very substantial reward.”

One of the men from the group I didn’t like leaned forward, smiling brightly. “Interesting.”

Ohashi gracefully ignored the interruption and continued. “Also, if any of you decide to withdraw from the case, I will understand. If you would remain on the premises until such time, that would be greatly appreciated. Now, please allow me to introduce everyone who has so generously agreed to join us today.” He gestured towards an older woman and the young woman sitting beside her. Both were dressed formally and looked quietly confident. Like they were excited to be working on this case, but you know, in a humble way? “Ms. Igurashi, a professor at Otoha University and her assistant, Suzuki Naoko.”

“Renowned medium, Hara Masako,” she bows politely hiding a small polite smile behind her ever-present kimono sleeve. “Minami Reimei, head of the Psychic Research Council, and staff member Atsuki Hideo.” Minami was a small stout man who had a smug as fuck look on his face, while Atsuki looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here. That’s when Mr. Ohashi dropped a bomb. “Their mentor, from the British Psychic Research Society, Dr. Oliver Davis.” I sat up straighter in my chair as I stared wide eyed at the man sitting beside Minami.

I don’t flick my eyes over to Naru despite how much I want to. There’s no way that this man is Oliver Davis because Naru is Oliver Davis. He’s a phony. Is that why we were here, or was it just a coincidence? Naru hadn’t wanted to take this case – the aura here was enough of a reason why. This didn’t feel like any of the other cases that Naru had taken us on. This place felt more like the Jikininki.

Not a good sign.

My distrust in Minami and his crew only grew.

“Shut up! Are you kidding?” Ayako whispered to John and Monk. “Oh my gosh, who knew that we were going to be working with the famous Oliver Davis on this case.” John was just gaping at the table while Monk was staring at the man with the rawest look of hero-worship that I’d ever seen. Ayako found that really funny. “Look at him, all star-struck and freaking out.”

“I gotta say, I’m really surprised that such an authority on psychic research would show up here.” John agreed. Oh boy, I wonder how they’ll react when they find out that they’ve been working for Oliver Davis all along. Monk, at the very least, will have a small conniption. It’ll be glorious.

Of course, since I obviously hadn’t been annoyed enough today, Minami decided to make an idiot of himself. “I assure you that we will have no problem handling your case. After all, we have the famous Dr. Davis with us.” Minami bragged, grinning widely and pointing at the rather refined looking white man sitting demurely next to him. And Naru’s cold gaze didn’t exactly escape my notice either. “And not to mention the efforts of all these other talented and fairly important people!” he laughed boisterously for an awkward amount of time.

Ew.

* * *

“So, who’s this Davis guy and why is he such a big deal?” Yasu asked when we got back to the base. We were all lazily setting up some of the shit that we’d brought in before we had been called back to meet everyone in the conference room. Our base was surprisingly large, and there were many offshoots from it that lead to the rooms we were supposed to stay in. We have been separated into three rooms – Ayako and Masako; Monk, John, and Yasu; and finally, myself, Lin, and Naru. We were by far the largest team that had been invited here, and so we got the full 4 rooms.

Some of them were oddly shaped, and I was kind of grateful that Naru had gotten us on with the most shelter. My tail had kinda been fluffed up ever since we got here, and I wanted a chance later to actually not have it curled up around me. Rooming with Naru and Lin allows me a bit more freedom with some of my less than human tendencies.

Plus, it was a place for me to stash snacks. I found that I usually got hungrier on cases, so maybe psychic powers used my energy in the same way that my demonic ones did. An interesting thing to look into later.

“Because he’s incredible, that’s why.” Ayako answered Yasu’s question. “He’s actually not involved with the psychic power side as much as he’s done some really fantastic spirit research.” The papers were actually really good. Naru had done a lot of research, and I was really glad that my psychic abilities had only chosen now to manifest. I had the help of a well known and well-read Doctor, and some general idea on where my powers might eventually grow.

(Knowing that they were incredibly similar to Gene’s was weird, but Naru would just be able to help me better.

Also, that little voice in my head was being a dick by pointing out that if my powers continue to mirror Gene’s that I might be able to bounce his PK back to him like Gene had back when he was alive.)

Monk grinned wildly and began waving his hands around as he talked about his favourite celebrity. “But there was this one time a few years ago where he did this amazing PK demonstration.”

“Was that the one where he took the giant aluminum block and slammed it into the wall?” Ayako turned to look at Monk, for once not antagonistic. “I had to miss that one.” She pouted.

“And there’s also that famous case where Dr. Davis helped find and rescue that American billionaire’s son who’d been kidnapped!” John piped up, the telltale hero-worship popping up in his own voice.

Monk grinned and him, “yeah, yeah, that kid had been buried alive in the ground, right?”

“That means Dr. Davis is clairvoyant too!” Ayako exclaims looking very excited. In fact, all of them looked just as excited as children who found out that they were going to Disneyland. It was kind of funny. Naru must die a little inside every time he sees this.

I sigh, “hey, isn’t it a little weird that someone that famous would be here without more people making a fuss about it?” I subtly ask the others

Monk shook his head. “Honestly his fanbase is a little specialized.” He pointed out.

“I’m glad to see you’re all enjoying yourselves.” Naru voice comes over from the door to the base.

Monk just smiles at him, “hey Naru, where’d you run off to?”

“I decided to start bringing in the rest of the equipment, I mean we were intending to do some work here, right?” He set down a stack of shelves beside an already growing pile of monitors. I roll my eyes at his stubbornness and move over to grab a monitor to begin setting up. Seriously, he knows that I had enhanced strength. Carrying these monitors would be practically nothing to me, and the only reason that I don’t carry half of them inside at a time is that their size makes holding them awkward.

“No Karma, leave it there,” he says as he rubs his shoulder and moves deeper into the room. “Have you eaten yet?”

My eye roll intensifies exponentially. “Naru, I had a candy less than 5 minutes ago. I’m fine.”

He frowned before reaching inside of his coat and pulling out an apple. (Ohhhh, did he have more? I want to eat one right in front of Minami to look even more like an asshole. Yessssss) “Eat.” He ordered. I glared at him, but I didn’t turn down food so although it was like admitting defeat, I began to eat the apple as I carried monitors (hah! Rebellion) in my other hand.

“Well, this is certainly very impressive.” Mr. Ohashi says as he walked into the room, taking in all of our equipment and our general set up.

Yasu grins and walks over to greet the man. “Ah, Ohashi-san.”

“I hope you find these room to be sufficient to your needs. I know your assistant requested a large room with off shooting rooms that are defensive. Unfortunately, this was the best we could do.” I shoot a look at Naru – he was the one who had set this up, and he was also the only one who knew of my slight PTSD type symptoms that made me want defendable rooms. I swear, one minute he’s acting like a jerk and the next he does shit like this.

I take a large bite out of my apple.

“Yes, thank you. We’re getting settled in.” Yasu smiled softly at the man, playing up his role as the boss surprisingly well. He just rolled with the punches. He would be good at improve. “If you don’t mind, may we take this opportunity to ask a few questions?”

Yasu’s asking questions? I had wondered how they were going to play this, but Naru was a little too controlling to leave the question asking to someone so inexperience. Yasu simply wouldn’t know which questions to ask. Mr. Ohashi smiled gracefully and inclined his head. “Of course, you’re welcome to ask me anything.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Yasu turned back to face all of us and gave out some orders in a decidedly less Naru-like manner. “Alright then, Narumi, please proceed. If the rest of you could continue setting up the base? That would be appreciated. Karma, Lin, join Narumi.”

Naru inclined his head slightly. “Yes, sir.”

Lin and I grabbed our respective note taking devices (him his ever-present laptop, and me, my case journal) before taking a seat at the central table along with Naru, Mr. Ohashi and Yasu. “You said the house has been unoccupied for some time. Would you mind telling us who the previous tenant was?” Naru asked, immediately beginning his interrogation of the client.

“The prime minister’s wife’s grandfather and former family head.” Well that wasn’t a mouthful at all. “He actually built this house around Meiji 10. Since that time there have been numerous renovations and add-ons. In fact, up until the last head of the family, I believe additions were made every year. So, it’s unlikely that much of the original building still remains.” Lin diligently took down everything that the client told us, while I simply paraphrased and made notes one what needed to be researched.

“Tell us more of the character of the head of the family.”

“Well his name was Miama Kaneyuki, and he owned a lot of land here in the Tsua region. He ended up building a silk mill here and was known for his involvement in various charitable works, even opening an orphanage and a charity hospital. Unfortunately, he lost most of his ventures when the market collapsed. The hospital and orphanage had to be shut down. He passed away shortly thereafter.”

That’s a lot to unpack. We would have to look more into the life of Miama Kaneyuki, I have a feeling that there’s something involved in this family line. “Mr. Ohashi, have you ever witnessed anything out of the ordinary in this house?” Naru asked, changing the subject and going down a new avenue.

“I haven’t.”

“Would it be at all possible to interview those people in the house at the time of child’s disappearance?”

“Well we would prefer to keep this as quiet as possible.” So that’s a no then. Pity, they could have told us stuff that was useful.

“Do you have any ideas as to the source of the ghost stories?”

“No, but the last head of the family might have suspected something. His final words were instructions. To leave the mansion alone, he wanted it to deteriorate over time.”

That sounded… serious and like something we needed to look into _asap_.

Naru placed a hand on his chin, “his final words…” he mumbled, looking deep in thought.

Lin looked up from his laptop, seeing that Naru was a little deep in his thoughts. “You wouldn’t happen to have a floor plan of the house…” he trailed off, waiting for Ohashi to respond.

“No. Unfortunately, there isn’t one.”

Well fuck. Floor plans are really important, especially on a case like this where people have died. Al our other cases have been strange incidents and some injuries, but no one had been killed by the phenomena. The body count was already at 2 people, and those were just the reported incidents. Who knows how many more people have gone missing over the years – the house was built in Meiji 10, and if I went with my gut feeling, I’m going to say that this type of thing has been happening long before the last owner died.

A floor plan might’ve helped people find the bodies too.

Shit, will I smell that? Ugh, this case is going to be a right ol’ pain in the ass, isn’t it?

“Excuse me, but who is this gentleman?” Ohashi turns to Yasu to ask. Okay, rude. He is literally right there? And you could ask the actual person???

“My name is Lin Kojo.”

Ohashi turns back to look at him. “I would guess that you’re Chinese.”

“I’m originally from Hong Kong.” Hypothesis confirmed then. My guess was right – I’m not losing my touch, ha! Suck it, Nagisa.

The others all gasped a little in shock, obviously not picking up on the slight accent that Lin spoke with. I don’t really blame them all that much for not making the connection with his name because I had only seen the full thing from files that Lin had sent me as well as some legal documents, but still. They shouldn’t be reacting like this in front of the client – not at this stage in the case.

Even Ohashi looked uncomfortable at the team’s obvious surprise. “If that is all, I’ll be taking my leave. Yasu immediately stood up to bid the man goodbye.

“Sir, thank you so much for your assistance.” Ohashi merely nodded before closing the door and making his way down the hallways. As soon as he was gone, Naru was ready to start getting down the business now that the base was set up enough to do its basic functions.

“Alright let’s start by taking temperature readings throughout the house. And after the sun goes down, no one does anything alone, agreed?” Fair enough. I knew that my demonic powers were basically useless when up against a ghost (but… this did have the chance of becoming like the Jikininki case…) so I would be sticking with people anyways. I didn’t have enough psychic power to properly defend myself against this side of the paranormal. The others were very human, and therefore they possessed the human weakness. It only made sense that on a case like this, Naru wouldn’t want anyone to be alone. I mean, _I_ keep getting attacked when alone so… “Matsuzaki-san I want you to make some charms. Make enough for each of us and all of the rooms.”

“Relax man, don’t you think you’re jumping the gun a little?” Monk whined, obviously forgetting that people have been killed here. I honestly didn’t know what I was expecting from the guy. He was making his dopiness well known.

Naru immediately shut him down. “That sounds exactly like what somebody would say to excuse their own laziness.” Monk was very obviously offended, but Naru plowed over any possible protests. “This is a mansion that has been abandoned for a long time. There are numerous stories and there is no floor plan. Given what we know and what we don’t know, it’s only common sense to be cautious.” _Get wrecked son._

That’s when Masako swooned and nearly collapsed, Monk catching her around the shoulders being the only thing that kept her from hitting the ground. “Hey, what’s wrong!” he asked in shock.

“There’s a fowl presence here, and I think I smell blood.” She whispers.

Well shit. “So, it’s not just me. I’ve been smelling blood all day – fresh blood.”

No one asked how I knew what fresh blood smelt like.

* * *

Before leaving the base with Monk and Yasu armed with clipboards and temperature readers, I had also grabbed an apple to eat on the way. You know, because I can’t resist looking like an asshole… and I was a little hungry still. This of course, caught Monk’s attention. “Hey Karma, I’ve been meaning to ask you, why is Naru always insisting that you eat all the time?”

I think about how to answer as we doddle around the halls of this large as fuck mansion. “Oh, that. We figured out a couple months ago that my powers are pretty draining on me, and since they’re practically active all the time, I need more energy. It’s kind of like I have a higher metabolism and if I don’t want to pass out, I need to eat more like a bird but with the normal large meals that humans have.” I decide to go for blasé and hope for the best. If I don’t make a big deal about it then maybe Monk won’t make a big deal about it.

“Oh, that sounds taxing.”

“It’s not that bad,” I shrug, “I made myself a nutrient supplement that I can eat so as not to be so transparent and seem like a pig. Naru just doesn’t think that it’s enough and insists that I eat real food.” I roll my eyes, he really was too paranoid. I was fine – I’d been surviving with the same drain for years now and I was no worse for wear. Naru didn’t need to constantly babysit me.

“Woah! How’d you do that?” Monk stares at me wide eyed like a kid that had seen magnesium react with water for the first time.

“Genius, remember?”

He blushes sheepishly. “Oh, right.” It seems that he’d forgotten. Again.

We continued to walk down endless hallways. There were oddly shaped doors everywhere, and I could really feel the Alice in Wonderland vibe. Some of the walls looked half decayed, and others looked to end abruptly. There were odd light fixtures and weirdly dark corners. Windows were everywhere and sometimes staircases that lead to nowhere. It was some damn impressionistic painting but in real life. We were so going to get lost in here. “Man, this is like a maze.” I mumble, I always hated mazes.

And then, because the universe wishes to continue fucking with me, we came to a dead end. Fucking how. “Dead end, ladies and gentlemen.” Monk declares like we couldn’t see the fucking wall in our way.

“He did say there were a lot of additions, but seriously, this is kind of crazy.” Yasu remarked, looking at the walls with interest. They were all painted in varying faded rainbow colours, and I couldn’t help but associate the bizarreness of this place with that of the Fabricated World. They were very similar, now that I think about it. I was honestly just waiting for monsters to attack at this point.

We went through another doo only to see the most bizarre room yet, and that was saying something. It had red flooring about hallway into the room, and then a set of small steps transitioned it into a brown that matched exactly one of the 16 wall faces in the room. There rest were an ugly green and pink with green and blue doors appearing randomly. Seriously, one was on the ceiling. There were a grand total of 4 chandeliers and windows on every wall that didn’t have at least 2 doors. The room split off into three different hallways and with every window, there was another little room. “What is this?” I wonder aloud as I consider just how high the architect was when they heard the word ‘renovations’ and thought that _this_ was the best direction to go in. “What the fuck? How high was the architect?”

“I guess it’s just another weird room.” Yasu muses as Monk goes to open the nearest door. Some opened into the abyss while others were simply boarded up. I set down the thermometer and waited for it to get a reading on the room while Yasu panicked slightly. “You don’t think we’ll actually discover the body of whoever went missing, right?” Yasu asked, nervously fixing his glasses.

“If it’s somewhere that we could find it I’m sure the police would have found it a long time ago.” Monk reassured him as he opened some window shutters. “What the…”

“What is it? Did you find a body?” Yasu panicked as he rushed over to see what was behind the shutters that Monk had opened. I reluctantly followed only to see that behind the shutters was another room. He frowns in confusion, “but why would there be another room on the other side of this window.”

Monk shrugs, “well the shutters look kind of new, so I guess this is just another one of the additions.”

The thermometer beeps and I go over to write down the temperature. “4.2 ̊C” I declare as I write it down on the clipboard along with my makeshift map that I’d drawn while we were walking.

“Well, should we keep moving?” Yasu’s voice sounds a bit weaker. I do remember him saying that he didn’t do well with all the creepy stuff on the case at his high school. And just think, that was only being in a high school after hours.

I nod, “yeah, which way did we come in again?” I ask, looking around and losing my orientation. The map I made didn’t help much either. Both Monk and Yasu pointed in completely different directions. “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if the three of us managed to get lost in here?”

We eventually ended up wandering down one of the three shoot offs from the big fucked up mess of a room, and inevitably came to a room that was even weirder. It was relatively square, _relatively_. It had a couple off shoots just like every other room, but they were just on the two walls. The windows were still there, but at least there wasn’t any weirdly placed doors. Instead, there was a room inside of a room. It was about the size of two porta-potties, and the colour of a grandmother’s powder room. AKA the ugliest shade of powdery emerald green.

“A room inside a room? No way, this is totally like an RPG!” Yasu yells indignantly.

Monk continues the joke, “a dungeon maybe?”

“Well, if this were a dungeon there would be something in here.” Yasu declares as he walks towards the door only to reveal that it was completely empty.

“Hey, you guys, forget the dungeon. Have you heard of the Winchester mansion?” Monk asked, looking around the room again.

Yasu tilted his head to the side like a goddamned puppy. “Like Winchester rifles?” He asked curiously.

“That’s right. The inventor of the rifle left a widow when he died, and for years she was constantly putting on additions on the house to protect her from curses and spirits. She thought people killed by her husband’s guns would come back to haunt her. It’s supposed to be a pretty complex house, similar to this one.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You mean someone _wanted_ the house to end up this way?” To be perfectly honest, I just thought that the architect had gotten smashed and the owner had been some impressionist/abstract art enthusiast and didn’t argue. If this was intentional… why?

The door creaks open and the three of us whirl around to see that it was Minami and ‘staff member’ Atsuki. “Oh, excuse us, we didn’t realize there was anyone in here.” He grins, his boisterous voice grating on every single one of my nerves. “You’re all with Shibuya Psychic Research, aren’t you?” He walks closer, his smirk still plastered on his face. Poor Atsuki looks like he craves death. “Ah, the eagerness of youth. I find it so refreshing really. Of course, when it comes to psychic research, it’s all about experience. So, I’ll be very curious to see how you kids do.” Actually, it’s all about not being a dumbass.

And we also happen to have a shit ton of people with rather unique skills on our team? We have a 19-year-old priest, a Buddhist monk, a self-styled Shinto priestess, a famous medium, an onmyoji, an insanely powerful PK user who is also clairvoyant, and whatever the hell I am. Yasu is of course, our mascot. We have oodles of stuff that we can research (if we wanted to) and we’ve been on loads of cases with really strong and violent spiritual activity. Seriously, who does this guy think he is?

I was about to open my mouth to start spewing some Q Branch shit when Yasu beat me to the punch. “Pardon me, I realize that I do look young, but the truth is I just turned 249 this year.” Even Atsuki’s eyes widened as they watched Yasu pull the most bullshit lie out of his ass. “I’ve got great genes, everyone in my family practically lives forever.” He says serious. Holy shit, he’s committing to this. I fucking knew it was a good idea to recruit him. Even if it’s just to have him cover for me at some point.

“I don’t really appreciate being made fun of, kid.” Minami hisses, looking up at Yasu. “Alright then smart guy, tell me when you were born.” He challenges, like Yasu couldn’t possibly know the date.

“Well I was born in Horaki 8. You know, I think you young kids today are just super.” Yasu beamed, turning on his full puppy smile and bullshitting like only a teenager could. “But of course, if I’d talked to my elders with the same sort of disrespect you’ve shown me, I would’ve felt it for a week.” Minami was practically snarling at this point as Yasu continued to prattle on. “Yeah, the times sure were tough back then. I’ll never forget the great Tenmei…”

Monk and I were a little too busy snickering to pay attention to the history lesson that Yasu was giving the other psychic researcher. “Man, this kid is great, Naru totally knew what he was doing.” Monk gasped in between his giggles.

“…and they scared me to death with stories of the Onen War. Oh please, wait, I’m not done yet!” Yasu called as he spotted Minami and Atsuki leaving the room without so much as a goodbye. Rude. “Mr. Minami!” But he was already gone.

“Well done!” Monk crowed. “That was truly amazing.”

Yasu smiled, “thanks, but I really feel a little guilty. Please forgive me for being a jerk _to_ the jerk.” He said, pressing his hands together in a small symbol of prayer.

* * *

“All the temperature readings we took were on the low end,” I report as I hand Naru the clipboard with the readings on it.

He flipped through the pages, raising an eyebrow at my makeshift map. “I don’t think we should call it a day before we’ve got the night vision cameras, thermography and condenser microphones set up.” He said after a moment. “And remember to stick together, no matter what happens. Tomorrow I want us to measure each room in the hallways, then we’ll use those to create a working floor plan.”

I smirk and lean past Monk, “so how ‘bout it, Lin? Feel like drawing up a floorplan.” The man didn’t so much as offer a response. Now normally, he would at least roll his eyes in acknowledgement of my existence. Ever since he found out about my demonic heritage and that I knew who Naru really was, we’d struck a sort of uneasy bargain. I say uneasy because we both don’t truly trust each other yet, but we were off to a good start. We bonded over thinking Naru was a self-destructive idiot. Or at least, I though that we had.

This newfound silence was a bit weird.

I didn’t know what to think.

Monk sighed heavily before turning around and grabbing some cameras. “Well everyone, back to work.” He grumbled. “This won’t be over anytime soon.” He turns to look at me suddenly, “hey Karma, shouldn’t you call home or something?”

I frown at him in confusion. Why would I call home? We’ve been on many overnight cases before, and it wasn’t like he’d seen me call anyone then. I’ll occasionally message Kyoya with some basic updates, but I’d warned him and the others that I’d be going dark since I was on a case. They knew I had to keep a cover and that I’d call if I needed help. “Nah, it’s okay.”

“Just let them know where you are,” Monk insists, shouldering another camera bag.

“Well since I don’t have any parents, there’s not going to be anyone there.” I point out, pulling out my apple and proceeding to eat the core.

Everyone was paying attention now, even Yasu. He worked for me, but he worked more for Kyoya, and we didn’t exactly gossip about our lives, so this was new to him too. “What are you talking about? You’re… an orphan?”

I nodded, it wasn’t that big of a deal. “Well you guys already know that I was raised in a church for the first 6 years of my life, but I was a disruptive kid, so the priest gave me up for adoption. I don’t really remember how long I was at the orphanage, but I was adopted. They were killed in a car accident when I was twelve – they were shitty parents, I don’t miss them at all.” I explain, loading up with my own stuff. Sometime during my explanation Naru had turned around and was paying attention to our conversation.

“Then who’s been taking care of you all of this time?” John asks.

“Well, I guess myself? I had an apartment and some money, so I did fine through middle school. I have this job now too, and Naru pays really good, so I can take care of myself. None of you have had the chance to taste my cooking yet, but I learned how to cook really well with my metabolism.” I joke slightly, finally settling with the amount of shit that I had piled in my arms. “My school is very understanding of my… situation and they let me take off whenever as long as I make up the work.” 

Ayako smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. “I get it, so if you want to skip, then you just say that you have to work.”

I grin, “yep, I can stay out as long as I want.”

Yasu immediately pulled a deep brooding pose and shifted his features until they mimicked Naru’s. “Maybe that’s why you’re so stupid.” I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at Yasu’s impression, and the others looked like they wanted to join me too.

“I’m a genius, remember? I’m literally majoring with a double minor at 17.” I roll my eyes.

Masako frowned, “Wait… I thought you were 16?” Well… that was one thing to focus on.

“I turned 17 before the Rokuryo High School case.”

That’s when Monk suddenly rushed over and pulled me into an incredibly awkward hug – I was currently holding a shit ton of equipment and so was Monk. But he managed to grab my head and wrap his arms around it, so kudos to him. “If life ever gets you down you just come cry on Bou-san’s shoulder.” He said, sounding like he was… tearing up?!

“No way! Let go, you creepy old man.” I grumble as I squirm until he lets me go. He lightly taps my head with his clipboard.

“Well you don’t have to be rude about it.”

The others gathered around me and began joking around as we walked through the halls. I had to admit, it was really nice. I hadn’t had this much fun doing something since Class E if I was going to be honest. There was always a weird sense of not belonging with the Host Club and those people from the weird witch school. The exorcists straight up hated me for a couple of months so there was always a bit of awkwardness there.

In the other places I just didn’t feel like I belonged, not quite like I was trespassing, but more like I was that awkward friend who doesn’t know how to act. Outwardly, I probably looked very normal, but in all honesty, I never truly _felt it_. These spiritualists actually felt a bit like family – and that scared me. They knew next to nothing about me, and I was already really attached to them.

I dread finding out what will happen when my secrets inevitably come to light. I was nearly three years strong. My luck was bound to run out soon.

* * *

_I was woken up by the strangest sound of something dripping. Thinking it was probably just the faucet, I got up out of bed and walked over to the washroom that was attached to the room that we were in. (The entire ‘base’ area that we were given was actually pretty sweet!) I robotically turn the taps, but they were already as tight as they could go. Nothing was dripping from the faucet either. That was… odd._

_My eyes slide sluggishly around the room until they come to rest on the shower curtain. It was closed, and the dripping sound seemed to be coming from behind it; just like in all the horror movies. I approach it slowly, standing in front of it and hearing the distant splash sound, just like before. It smells like metal._

_I look down slightly as another splash echoes through the room and see that there is a splattering of bright red around the edges of the tub. I reach forwards hesitantly, pulling the curtain back in one fell swoops._

_The tub was filled to the brim with blood. And floating in the blood was an inhuman corpse staring up at me._

* * *

I jolt awake violently. So that was the first dream for this case then – that wasn’t promising at all.

* * *

[Day 2]

We started the second day by gathering measuring instruments and heading out armed with determination and paper. We needed to get a floor plan of this place as soon as possible, and not getting lost in a place that was haunted was something we were all eager for. After the bizarreness of yesterday, no one wanted to be caught off guard in the oddly RPG like house.

“This is so weird. If you go by the outside measurements it’s a rectangle, but when you actually look at the room it’s a square. And before you say anything, yes, I do know that squares are rectangles, but the proportions are still different enough to make note of.” I comment as I jot down our latest measurements on my second attempt at a map for this mansion.

Yasu puts a hand on his chin as he looks over the detailed map I was amassing next to the list of measurements that we’d made. “So, if we measured right, the thickness of the walls would be 3 meters?!” That was a pretty thick wall; more than comfortable for a passageway. That didn’t sound fun either.

“It is weird,” Monk acknowledged, “but maybe we got something wrong.”

We were just gathering our stuff when the teacher from that duo of psychic researchers approached our group. “Excuse me, Shibuya-san?” she asked. She was incredibly soft spoken, and at first, I thought that Yasu simply didn’t hear her, but in the moment that he forgot to turn around, I remembered that he wasn’t used to responding to Naru’s name yet.

“Y-yes, I’m sorry, what is it?” he stuttered, smiling at her a bit sheepishly.

The woman took it all in stride. “I think it would be a good idea to conduct a séance here tonight, and I’d like to invite everyone in the mansion to participate, if at all possible.” Yasu smiled at her and assured her that we would be there.

* * *

“Hello, welcome.” The woman greeted us softly as she held open the door for the SPR team to file in. The Davis impostor was already seated at a small table in the middle of the room along with Minami. I ignored Ayako quietly ribbing Monk about his little celebrity crush in favour of watching the exchange between the new bane of my existence and Yasu.

“Sorry about yesterday,” Yasu apologized as he took a seat neat to the Davis impostor. Minami just turned his head and huffed as he stood up to walk away from Yasu, all the while adjusting his coat. What a little bitch.

He approached the woman who was talking with her assistant, “Ms. Igurashi, can we add a little light in here?” he asked. “It’s difficult to shoot with the room this dark.” He explained. Ha! Amateur. So much for experience if he didn’t know that he wouldn’t be able to use a normal camera. And he was ribbing _us_ about experience. I bet you that this was probably his first case – someone with ‘so much experience’ shouldn’t need a mentor. 

“Oh,” Igurashi raised an eyebrow. “Is that a regular video camera you have there?”

He smiled brightly, “yes, I use it often.” Oh, he was just setting himself up to be roasted.

“I see, when you said you were going to record this experience, I had assumed that you had brought a night vision camera.” Igurashi said coolly.

Minami both looked taken aback and a bit abashed. “I beg your pardon?”

“I’m sorry Minami-san, but there will only be a single candle during the séance. Spirits do tend to dislike the light.” It took everything in my power to refrain from adding on to Ms. Igurashi’s declaration with an insult to his experience.

Minami however, was not one to back down and utterly dismissed the woman. “Oh, I’m sure it will be fine.” He insists.

“I’m concerned though, without a specialized camera…” Ms. Igurashi continued, pointedly ignoring Minami’s blatant faux pas. But I was of course, ready to offer a solution.

“Wait a second, Ms. Igurashi. I believe we have a solution. We have night vision cameras, right Lin? I’m sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble to rig up the one that I have with me.” I ask, holding up the bag that I had brought with me. (Naru had insisted that while we measure we set up the remaining equipment, and I just so happened to have brought an extra night vision camera. It’s funny how things work out so nicely.)

Lin had been talking with Naru in hushed tones, but as soon as I had addressed him, his hand dropped, and he fell silent. He didn’t turn to look at me, merely nodded before waiting for Naru’s cue. Naru looked over at Yasu. “Well then sir, should I help Karma set up?”

“Yes, please get right on that, Narumi.” Yasu smiled.

Ms. Igurashi looked incredibly relieved. “Oh, if you could that would be wonderful.” It took us next to no time to set up – both of us being intimately familiar with the equipment by now, and soon enough the séance was underway. Minami, the Davis Impostor, Yasu, Ms. Igurashi and her assistant were all seated around the table with a single candle in the centre. The assistant had a large stack of paper in front of her along with a black marker. The others held hands, and all those not seated at the table were standing by the back wall of the so that we could watch without interfering.

“Let us take a deep breath and call out to the spirits; those living here in this house.” Igurashi instructed. Everyone slowly breathed in and out. “To you who dwell around us, we welcome you to use this woman’s hand to speak to us. Please speak to us to help us understand your wishes. If you can hear my voice, please use this woman to speak your will to us.” The teacher pleaded. Just as she finished speaking. Naoko’s hand began to move at incredible speeds. She frantically wrote on the papers in front of her before throwing them to the floor and moving onto the next page.

The flame of the candle rose aggressively, accenting the loud knocking sounds that were going around the room. The ones siting down at the table looked around wide eyed – Minami and the Davis impostor looking particularly scared. This was the first real ‘ghost’ thing that Yasu had seen, so I wasn’t blaming him for the way that he practically whirled around with a slightly awed look on his face.

My face hardened along with Naru’s. Something was seriously fucked up here, and it’s depressing that it didn’t surprise me that we were getting this much activity on the second day. We had literally provoked the thing. Then the shaking got so bad that the candle fell over and immediately extinguished. Minami was very freaked out now and full on stood up in a panic. “Mr. Minami! Please sit down.” Igurashi urged. “We must remain still.”

The knocking gets particularly loud from right behind me and I whirl around to stare at the wall. I know someone’s there. “Rin, pyo, toh, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen!” I hiss, performing the nine cuts against the wall and watching in satisfaction as the thumping in the room lessened tremendously.

“Namaku san man dan bazara san kan!” Monk joined in, quickly finishing off whatever remained of the spirit. Naru moved over and quickly turned on the lights while Monk turned to look at me. “Good job there, kiddo! You almost banished that spirit all by yourself!”

Meanwhile Igurashi was helping her assistant sit up. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, ma’am.” She whispered in return, holding her head in her one hand as if she had a severe headache. Minami was on the floor curled up in a fetal position, and that drew my attention to the hundreds of papers scattered on the floor.

Naru walked over to one of the papers and picked it up to look at it. “It would appear that you summoned a spirit.” On the paper that Naru held up was the word ‘help’ written across it in a slanted blocky kanji.

The others quickly began to pick up papers. “This one’s the same!” Ayako called.

“This one too.” John agreed, the both of them holding a couple of pieces of paper. Each paper had a version of the word ‘help’. Various different synonyms and ways of writing the kanji scrawled across the paper. If this was faked, then Suzuki had a lot of knowledge on various ways of writing that simple message.

I looked down around me before seeing something that wasn’t quite like the others. “Hey, this one’s different.” I pick up the paper and hold it up for everyone to see. True to my words, these kanji were written in a red colour, and judging from the smell of it, it was written in blood. “It says ‘I don’t want to die’ – it’s written in blood.” Minami predictably over reacts and gasps theatrically.

(I’m starting to think that he got into the psychic business as a fluke, to be perfectly honest.)

I open my mouth to continue speaking when suddenly my vision begins to fade, and this horrible aching happens in my ears. I very nearly wail as I place my hands over my ears, doubling over. I barely register Masako catching me and easing me to the floor, my ears hurt so much. I can’t fucking see anything other than two glowing white eyes staring me down from across the room.

_“I don’t want to die.”_


	18. File 6 - Part 2

[April]

[Day 2]

“Hey Karma, are you sure you’re okay? You had quite the fit back there.” Monk asked as we made our way back to the base with Naoko and Ms. Igurashi. He had a look of concern on his face – in fact most of the others did as well. They were all looking at me like I was a fragile child, and I didn’t like it.

“I’m fine. Whatever is here, it’s violent. It’s not like any of the things we’ve seen on our previous cases, and I guess I just got a bit overwhelmed.” I shrug dismissively. “The… thing reached out when I picked up that paper, and I wasn’t prepared for it. It doesn’t like my presence.” I tell them honestly. The longer I stayed here, the more I was beginning to think that what we were hunting wasn’t a ghost, but rather a ghost turned demon. Those always presented as ghosts and felt nasty as shit. They didn’t understand the rules like the demons from Gehenna did, and were therefore much more hostile when they felt my presence.

Gehenna demons didn’t like me, but they respected power, and as the son of Satan and the current ruler of my own ‘empire/kingdom’ they respected me as another demon king. So what if I’d only ever ruled in Asiah, I had more of a kingdom than Mephisto currently did, and to the demons of Gehenna, that meant something. These human-turned-demons don’t really get that. They just sense that I’m a threat.

It didn’t surprise me in the least that I was attacked so quickly.

“Well you should eat something when we get back to the base,” Yasu pointed out. “You said you have a higher metabolism, and since Narumi is absorbed in our case right now, it falls to me, as your boss–” his eyes twinkle with mirth as he says this, “–to make sure that you don’t pass out on us.”

I roll my eyes at him and sarcastically slowly pull out a lemon candy and pop it in my mouth. He pouts at me, but that’s the best that he’s going to get right now, and he knows that I can take care of myself. Besides, we’re at the base now, so we have to get back to business.

Lin quickly uploads the footage to the base’s systems while Naru turns to the two women and began to question them while we wait for the tech to load. “Tell us what it felt like?”

Naoko looked slightly haunted, and I kinda don’t blame her. “It was like my arm was being yanked around by the marker.” She explained as the video began to play on one of our bigger monitors. “I honestly felt that if I let go, it would just fly off on its own.”

Monk leaned forwards to look at the tape before smiling at Yasu. “Hey boss, you sure do seem incredibly calm.” And for a guy who is still super freaked out by the paranormal, Yasu had handled it very well.

“Well, that’s just because I have nerves of steel.” He smirks.

“Stop.” Naru orders suddenly, drawing everyone’s attention back to the monitors once more. “Rewind it to about 52 seconds and go frame by frame.” Lin nodded in the affirmative and soon enough the footage began to roll once more. The video showed a blank piece of paper drifting down to the floor and lay there for a split second before the bloody writing just appeared.

“There wasn’t anything on it until it hit the floor.” Ayako whispered in horror. Masako almost immediately swooned, and without thinking too much about it I caught her and helped support her weight.

She covered her mouth as if she were about to be sick. “I’m sorry, I don’t feel so well.”

I gently take her by the shoulders. “Let’s get you back to your room.”

Naru snaps his head towards us, his gaze hard and his face serious. “Ms. Matsuzaki, would you please go with them?”

“We should be okay by ourselves,” I frown softly, already beginning to move towards the door.

“No way!” I look back in shock at how forceful Naru’s voice was. He almost yelled – I can’t even remember the last time I heard Naru yell. He is generally a very soft-spoken guy, so him yelling really betrayed just how nervous this entire situation made him. He didn’t say anything more as he glared at the screen.

We left quietly to make our way down the hall with all of the rooms.

Wow, Naru’s even more jumpy than usual.

Why do we always get the weird cases?

* * *

“You smelled blood?” I asked as I calmly took a seat on Ayako’s bed while Masako tucked herself in. Ayako had gone to have a shower and requested that I stay in the room with Masako until she’s done and/or Naru comes to get me. I tried to argue that I could handle a walk down the hallway, but Naru’s little outburst had freaked the two girls out.

Masako nodded demurely. “Yes, it was like my clothes were all soaked with it. The smell was so strong I thought I was going to be sick.”

“The same thing happened after we first got here, right?”

“Yes, but this time it got much worse after all of those rapping noises began.” I nod in agreement. It had gotten stronger after the séance. Especially with that weird vision I had, but to be perfectly honest, it was that dream that I’d had that was still bothering me.

Just then Ayako got out of the bathroom, drying her hair in a towel and smirking. “Wow, you two seem to be getting along.”

Masako disagreed. “You _must_ be joking.” She says, looking at Ayako as if the older woman was crazy. “Clearly someone like me doesn’t associate with someone like this.”

I sniff, doing my best to imitate her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Just how you are; I didn’t say it was a bad thing.” She says haughtily.

I immediately feel the urge to lash out and overreact from way back in my Okumura Rin days. There’s just something about Masako that really makes me want to act my age and be petty as fuck. For once, I give in. “You’re an awful person.” As the words come out of my mouth I can _feel_ the laughter building in my chest. Wooo that was a weak insult oh my gosh.

“Maybe, but at least I’m pretty and unbelievably talented.”

Deciding to keep up with the banter I point theatrically at her, “you’re one of the meanest girls I know!” Oh, she wasn’t even close to being one of the meanest girls I know. She was very mild and sophisticated – she had nothing on people who were sadistic as fuck. She was just snooty. “Why do you hate me?”

She sniffs. “You know I’m really not sure, maybe it’s because you’re breathing.” And the fun and games feeling of the banter suddenly left. That last bit hit a little too close to home for my comfort. I had to admit, I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about people hating me for no valid reason. If she had said literally anything else, I wouldn’t have thought much of it. Hating me because I merely exist – even in a joking matter – wasn’t something that my temper would let slide.

“I’ll breath on you, you creep.” I snarl slightly, launching a pillow at the girl and managing to hit her despite her dodge. She looked a little stunned. I was smug.

“You guys are really on the way to being best friends…” Ayako sighed heavily.

I turned to glare at the medium, actually letting a bit of my dislike for the leech to slip through. “Oh no I’ll never be friends with _her_.” She was after my man (why am I like this?) and seemed to always be out to get me like a milder version of Shura back when she was the ultimate douche-canoe.

“I’ll never be friends with _him._ ” We chorused simultaneously.

* * *

_It was pitch black, and the only thing that was lit was the edges of a silhouette of a hunched over corpse as it stumbled away, leaving bloody footprints in its wake. It was panting heavily, the sound echoing the squelch of its footsteps. It seemed to almost be patrolling, but for what?_

* * *

[Day 3]

“Good morning Lin!” I call as I swoop into the base and grab an apple from the bag that Naru had left out in the base. He didn’t acknowledge me like at all, but I didn’t focus too much on it because there was something much more interesting currently happening in the base. Ms. Igurashi was here, and she looked panicked.

“Are you sure that none of you have seen Suzuki?” she blubbered as Yasu and John tried to comfort the clearly distraught woman. Oh shit, that didn’t sound good. Her assistant was missing?

“Please, try to calm down, Igurashi-san.” Yasu insisted as he helped the woman sit down. I walked over to stand to Naru’s left as he looked down at the woman.

Things were heating up on this case, and Naru’s aura was incredibly agitated this morning. He was unsettled, and his power was reacting to it. I subtly try to reach out to smooth out the aura, partially succeeding and he was able to calmly start asking his questions. “When did you last see her?”

“This morning. I woke up once, it was around daybreak I think, and Suzuki was sleeping right there.”

“Do you know what time it was?” I ask gently, watching as John laid a comforting arm around the woman’s shoulder. She shook her head and looked like she wanted to cry. I continued to pry gently, “when did you wake up this morning?”

“7 o’clock.”

Monk rolled up his sleeve and looked at his watch. “Okay, it’s 10 o’clock now, so we can say that she’s been missing for the past three hours at least.” That wasn’t good – not for a house like this. Going missing for any length of time was pretty much a death sentence. I had a feeling that Naoko was already dead – and my instincts have never been wrong.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Ohashi walked through the open door to our base and turned to look at Ms. Igurashi. “I questioned the staff if they’d seen her sometime last night or early this morning. So far there’s no news.” He says. What was it with everyone coming to our base with all this stuff? That was a little random, but I honestly wondered – was it because we were the biggest team here besides the actual house staff? “I just recently checked the front door myself, and it was still locked so…” he continued, trailing off slightly.

“So, we can probably assume that she didn’t go outside.” Yasu picked up.

Igurashi shook her head, “oh no, Suzuki has very bad eyesight. I know for a fact that she wouldn’t have gone anywhere without her contacts.” She insists, pulling out a contact case and clutching it tightly in her fingers.

“Wait a sec, what if we ask Dr. Davis to find her?” John suggested suddenly, “he was able to find that billionaire’s son by using his clairvoyance, right?”

Igurashi looked up at the Australian with desperate hope in her eyes. “He did?”

“Ms. Igurashi, I _just_ heard what happened!” Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Minami just waltzed right into our base like he owned the place, speaking with such false sympathy it was almost laughable. “How terrible for Ms. Suzuki! We’d be happy to help in any way we can.”

“Oh, thank you,” Igurashi says, smiling hopefully as she stands up and approaches the three newcomers. “If I may, I’d like to ask Dr. Davis to attempt psychometry. Maybe he can find her. Perhaps he could use this contact lens case that she left behind. If the Doctor would at least try, I would be very grateful.”

Minami smiles at her condescendingly before taking the contact lens case. “Of course, yes,” the panic in his eyes was hidden, but not too well hidden. “I will ask him.” He turns to look at the Davis imposter before speaking in very choppy English. “Dr. Davis, _shake your head, you can’t do anything. I’ll make up an excuse._ ” Oh, that shit bag. He turns back to look at Ms. Igurashi, plastering on a fake look of remorse. “I’m sorry, but he is unable to use this item.”

Ms. Igurashi looks taken aback, “but, why not?” she gasps, panicked.

I glance over at Naru, seeing sadness in his eyes and knowing that he’d come to the same conclusion as I had. “You don’t need to compromise yourself. My instincts say that it would be pointless – I don’t feel her anymore… she was killed.” I whisper to him softly. He lowers his chin slightly before standing straighter. I could tell that this bothered him a bit, but I just _knew_ that Naoko Suzuki was dead. I raised my voice slightly and looked Minami right in the eye. “It’s something that belonged to her, and Dr. Davis has been able to use his psychometry in previous cases; unhindered.” I say, taunting him slightly.

He glares at me – he knows exactly what I’m doing. I’m forcing him into a corner and then calling him out on his bluff. “The Doctor is limited, he can only utilize an object that was with the person at the time that they went missing.” His bluff was good, but anyone who actually cared enough to analyze the case that Naru had worked would know that that wasn’t true. I switched to English so as to not alarm the others.

 _“Now we both know that that’s not true, Minami. Dr. Davis used his psychometry on someone’s school pencil. It really has nothing to do with the object and more to do with the psychic. So please, Mr. Minami. Continue to bluff.”_ I hiss. Luckily for me, Igurashi was too busy crying softly into her hands at the bad news to pay attention to the fact that I knew English. Unfortunately, Monk _had_ been paying attention and now had an odd look on his face.

Minami glared at me before answering in Japanese. “This isn’t my fault, _kid_. I unfortunately, don’t make the rules. Has anyone considered that the séance yesterday traumatized the girl and she simply went home? Young people these days just don’t seem to have much staying power.” He waves his hand around dismissively. Well fuck you too sir, you were the idiot curled up on the ground in fright. Gosh I hate people like him.

I glare at him; he keeps deliberately mocking our age, despite he himself not providing any sort of usefulness. We had a team full of spiritualists, and all he had was some poor guy posing as Oliver Davis. I open my mouth to snap at him, but Ms. Igurashi responds before I can, and in a way that I didn’t expect because of the overwhelming evidence in the contrary. “That could be a possibility.” She said, wiping away some of her tears. “I’ll try calling Suzuki at home. Thanks so much.”

I purse my lips and nod sharply. She was in denial.

“The rest of us will divide up and help search for her,” Yasu assures the woman diplomatically. Ever the charmer that one. He was good in a tense situation. (I might want to start taking him with me and Kyoya to meetings.) “Now let’s see if Mr. Ohashi will show you to the telephone.”

* * *

As predicted, Suzuki hadn’t just gone home. “She could be anywhere in here. I mean, this house is so huge that I can’t even imagine all of the places that we don’t know about.” Yasu said somberly as he picks at his food. We had all sat down for lunch to take a break from the search.

“Well the floor plan will go a long way towards helping us out, so you guys keep at it.” Ayako sighs.

Monk grumbles from across the table, “if it’s so important then why don’t I hear you offer to grab a tape measure and help out?”

“Because I’m exhausted from walking around this screwed up place trying to sense spirits, that’s why.” Ayako sniffs, looking offended that Monk had the audacity to question her. “Right, Masako?”

Masako nodded, taking a sip from her tea. “Yes, although I do have to say that you whine and complain about it a lot more than I do.”

“Oh, shut it. You know you’re tired too!”

I roll my eyes and quickly eat the rest of my food. We were all tired, but that didn’t mean that we could stop. There was still _some_ hope that Naoko could be found… maybe not alive, but finding her body would bring some closure, right?

* * *

“So, do you think she could have been taken away somewhere?” I ask conversationally as I walk around the perimeter of the dark room that we’d found ourselves in. I was searching and measuring along with Yasu, John, and Monk, and we’d run out of rooms that had reliable light fixtures, so we had ventured deeper into the mansion and eventually found a bunch of dark rooms that we still had to map out. We were armed with flashlights and tape measures, but while we _were_ doing some good, I couldn’t help but feel useless.

I don’t know what it was about this place quite yet, but there was just something wrong here. The air was too stale, there was no movement. And then there was that constant smell of blood.

“By who?” Monk asks, placing his flashlight in between his teeth as he pulls out his measuring tape and begins to lay it along the base of the wall.

“I don’t know. Maybe by a spirit who believed that Suzuki could help them or something.” That’s a bold-faced lie, but I was still new to all of this, so they expected me to be a little optimistic. There were no spirits here seeking help. It was even debatable if what was here were even spirits at all.

“I hear ya,” Monk grumbled, pulling the flashlight from his mouth and checking the numbers. “She was the person who actually experienced the spirits calling for help.” He jotted the numbers down on a small notepad and I dutifully added them to my shitty map.

Yasu looked up from his corner of the room and held his flashlight under his chin in an attempt to be creepy. “Or maybe she actually faked everyone out and wrote those words on her own and ran off because she was afraid of being found out.” He said, adding in yet another theory that can explain Naoko’s absence. But I just wasn’t feeling any of the explanations presented. She had left behind her contacts.

That alone was enough evidence to suspect foul play; especially if Igurashi is to be believed and her assistant was as blind as a bat without them.

“But what about the one with all the blood and the knocking sounds?” I counter, bringing up the evidence that Yasu had surely seen. We were still working on him with looking at the finer details. He was better with administrative manners than search and recon, but that was to be expected. Still, I was subtly attempting to teach him how to look underneath the underneath.

Yasu looked a little sheepish as he smiled awkwardly at me. “Oh… right. I forgot about that.”

“Hey, you guys!” John yelled suddenly, causing the three of us to run over to look at where he was coming from. He was standing just in front of what looked like an old trap door in the middle of the room. “The floor seems to sink down around here.” Oh, this place just gets better and better.

Yasu raised an eyebrow before kneeling down in front of it. “A door? But where does it go.”

Monk looked down at it grimly. “There’s only one way to find out,” he announced before he bit the flashlight again and reached over to the handle on the door. It opened to reveal a square shaped cavity, and it was dusty as hell. Seriously, he pulled up the panel and just a literal dust cloud. It took way too much effort to not sneeze.

Down the hatch though, was a metal ladder leading into the darkness. At the bottom I could see what looked like some boxes and the floor of yet another room. And of course, since we found it, we had to go down it. Who knows what we’ll find down there.

I hastily folded the papers that I was holding and shoved them into my pockets and then shoved the pen behind my ear so that my hands were free. I wormed my way around Monk and immediately began to climb down into the hole much to the other’s chagrin. “Karma! What are you doing?!” Monk yelled as he reached to grab onto my arm with an iron grip. I paused in my descent to look up at him, pasting on a look of confusion.

“Monk, we need to go check out what’s down there,” I say slowly so that he knew that I thought that he was being dumb. He frowned t me and didn’t loosen his grip.

“You shouldn’t be going down first. You have a bad track record with falls.” He pointed out.

I scowled at him and yanked my arm out of his grip – thoroughly shocking him. “And I haven’t been seriously injured yet!” Well… that they know of. When I fell down the manhole at Yuasa High School, Naru had been the only one to witness my injured state. The others didn’t know just how seriously injured I had been, especially since while Ayako had been rather vocal in her displeasure at my state, she hadn’t mentioned what my injuries were. Something about doctor-patient confidentiality despite her not actually being my doctor and whatnot. I knew what my injuries were and how to handle them, thank you very much. “I’m pretty durable, I can handle it. And it’s not like you can stop me now.”

And then I’m moving down the ladder and out of his reach to the point where he can no longer pull me up even if he came down after me. The channel was pretty narrow – not narrow enough that Monk wouldn’t be able to fit but narrow enough to stop more than one person from going down at a time. Monk and the others were also sensible enough to wait until I got to the bottom in case I needed to make a quick (well quickish) escape. “I’d still like to say that I think that this is a bad idea!” he yelled down after me, but I paid him no mind. There were other things for me to worry about right now.

The farther down I went, the darker it got. No fucking surprise, I didn’t exactly have my flashlight on. All the same, even my visibility was beginning to limit. The channel was also filled with dust and cobwebs that got thicker and thicker. This place had obviously not been accessed in a long time. On the one hand, that made me feel more secure since I didn’t sense anything demonic or spiritual. But on the other hand, that made me nervous because they could be trying to lure me into a false sense of security.

But I was already at least 16 feet down, so there was no point in turning back now. I had to see this through; my curiosity was killing me. Finally, I hit the bottom, or well the boxes at the bottom. I hit them with a thump and a slight bounce. I pull out my flashlight and flicked it on so that I could see better, and so that the others didn’t think me too weird. There was nothing less human than sitting at the bottom of a 20-foot shoot in the dark and having your eyes reflect their flashlight like a fucking cat. I moved around the small room, pacing slightly and taking in everything that was down here.

“Alright I’m down! You can start heading down now.” I call up, shining my flashlight so that they can see that I had hit the bottom.

The room was small and filled with some dusty wooden crates. There was enough room to move around but think broom closet apartment type of small. I went deeper into the room while one of the others made their way down the channel. I poked around the boxes before seeing something that didn’t quite belong in the scene that we had been presented with. Laying across one of the many crates, there was a dirty lump of white (well formerly white) cloth.

I guess I’d spent more time down here than I thought, because by the time I’d made my way over to the coat, the others were down there. I coughed slightly and grabbed the coat, tucking it under my arm hurriedly and made my way over to the others. For some reason, I was finding it hard to breath down here. The metallic scent that hadn’t been present until the others came down was suddenly overwhelming. “I don’t know about you, but I want to get out of here as soon as possible. There’s nothing down here other than wooden crates and judging from what I can see in the holes in the sides, those crates are empty.” I cough, pulling up my shirt collar so that I can have some hope of filtering the air.

John gripped my shoulder lightly and helped me move around the crates and back over to the ladder. “We’ll be right behind you,” he told me, as I coughed weakly. I smelt the blood in the air even over the scent of dust and mildew. The feeling of unease had increased exponentially. Unless we wanted to get hurt, we needed to get out now.

“You guys go first,” I gasped slightly, shoving Yasu up the ladder. “I– I have the best defense.”

I must have looked really freaked out, because the others didn’t protest and simply began to climb.

* * *

Naru raised an eyebrow as he looked over the data that we’d gathered from our latest escapade. “You found a hidden space?” We nodded, and John held up our findings.

“And we ran across this while we were checking it out.” John offered him the lab coat and Naru immediately began to look at it curiously. He looked like a child with a new toy. It was kind of cute actually.

“Look at the tag, Naru.” Monk said grimly. “Miama Charity Hospital. The one that was founded by the first head of the family.” Naru stared curiously at the kanji covered label sewn onto the inside seam of the lab coat.

“That would mean that this lab coat was in fact issued by the hospital.” He deduced, walking over to the centre table and spreading out the coat so that he could look at the dirty thing a bit closer. I was quick to crowd around beside him, eager to see it in daylight without the weird night vision thing that I had going for me.

Monk cocked his head to the side. “So, what would that be doing here hidden in a secret room?”

“I see something.” Naru reached forwards into a hidden inside pocket and produced a bill of money. It was old and the folds in it spoke of it being well used. The colour was akin to that of rust, and it smelt just as bad.

Along the top edge of the bill was some messily scrawled kanji. “Yo- ge- ku- ki- ta- sa- ni- ra- ru- kyo- shi- mina- ha- rai- sho…?” I said slowly and Naru leaned over so that I could see the bill better. The others quickly gathered around us, trying to see what I was reading.

Ayako looked annoyed. “What the hell? This doesn’t make any sense!” she huffed.

I shrug, “it’s so dirty. I can’t read it all.”

“Why do you think someone would write on money?” Monk asked, placing his hands on his hips and frowning.

“Maybe whoever it was didn’t have anything else to write it on.” John suggested quietly, oblivious to the deep thinking frown that Naru was wearing.

Naru turned around suddenly to look at us, and intrigued look in his eye. “Let’s keep investigating, but whatever you do, make sure you always stay together.” He said sharply, his voice going a bit gravely as he spoke. Something was troubling him, more than usual.

* * *

Somehow, I had ended up being left behind at the base. As soon as Naru had seen me coughing, he had immediately forced me to stay, and with the others all showing their concern, I’d look like an idiot if I insisted on going. Besides, my lungs actually did hurt, and I couldn’t get the taste of blood out of my mouth.

Still, I didn’t quite like being stuck with Lin. He had been in a _fine_ mood since this case began. He literally hasn’t said more than 2 words to me! What was with that.

“I’m going to… go make some tea.” I say stiffly, getting up from the table and heading over to the kettle that we had near a wall plug. “Do you want any, Lin?”

“No. Thank you.”

My eyebrow twitches at his response. Normally, he gladly accepted the tea, or at least said more than that. This house had me really on edge, and I know it’s wrong to take it out on the people around me, but right now I really can’t be bothered enough to care. I don’t tolerate this kind of behaviour towards me without a valid reason being presented, and I wasn’t about to just let this slide. This wasn’t good for the working environment.

“Have I done something to offend you lately? I mean, you didn’t act like this before.” I say bluntly, turning to look at him. He stopped his typing but didn’t otherwise turn around. “Is it about your nationality being revealed? Because I already knew that.” That was the only other thing I could really think of that would be bothering him. He hadn’t exactly been broadcasting that he was Chinese, but I had already had my suspicions long before this case. Maybe he was just unsettled at being outed like that, although I can’t imagine why. It’s not like anyone would have a problem with him being from another country, right? That’s just stupid.

“I’m fine. I just hate the Japanese.”

Hold the fuck up.

What?

He turned to level a cool stare at me. “Do you know what has happened historically and what they did to my country? You should pick up a book.” Okay, that was uncalled for? Like completely? “Not to be rude, but I’m not interested in befriending the Japanese. Especially those who don’t know their history.”

“Okay, so fun fact, but I _do_ know the history between our two countries but hating people now for the things that their ancestors did is wrong. It’s not like we asked to be related or anything. Believe me, I’ve done this before. It’s fine if you don’t like me because you just don’t like my personality, but hating me because of my heritage? It’s stupid in numerous ways. You can’t blame me for the things that my ancestors have done. My actions are the ones that define me, not the ones of my ancestors, on _either_ side.” I bite out. After having that sit down a couple cases ago where Naru and Lin found out about the other half of my DNA, I really didn’t think that I’d be having this conversation. Both of them had been fine with me before, so what was so different now?

Seriously, Lin had been perfectly fine with the Japanese before. What the fuck had changed? I was pissed, not a word of a lie.

Then Lin did something that I didn’t expect at all. He burst out laughing. I’d never heard him laugh before. Did I say something funny? I don’t feel like anything I said was funny.

“I’m sorry, it’s just someone else I knew said something similar to me a long time ago. You just made me remember that. You remind me a lot of him actually,” He says softly, looking down with a certain fondness in his eyes.

“Naru?”

“Oh no,” oh. So, it was Gene then. “When I told Naru, I’m pretty sure his exact words were ‘that’s stupid’.”

I smiled softly, “that sounds like him.” In fact, I could think of nothing more in character for him than that. Naru didn’t seem like the type too deal with irrational hatred of any kind. He was just too logical for that kind of thing.

“I don’t hate you, Karma, and I’m sorry for making you think that I did. Especially after you trusted me with your past.” Lin continues softly, standing up and bowing slightly. “It’s just that my heritage is very important to me and sometimes I let my feelings get the better of me. So, will you forgive me for saying such hateful things?”

As much as I wanted to remain angry at the older man for being an asshole, it wasn’t like he’d been all that bad. Plus, it wasn’t even because of who my father was, so that was refreshing. I’d forgiven the cram class for doing much worse. “Of course,” I incline my head in answer to his bow. And as always, the others had brilliant timing by returning right them. I perk up, subconsciously sinking back into my Rin mindset. “Oh, hi guys. Did you find anything?” I ask as I make my way over to the kettle and actually begin brewing tea; for everyone.

They begin to babble slightly about various weird areas in the house as they all sit around the table (even Lin walking away from his computer to join us) and soon enough I have hot cups of tea placed in front of everyone. Naru lets out an audible sigh of relief as soon as the amber liquid hits his tongue. He’d been very stressed these past couple of days. And to think, we weren’t even that far into the case.

Then out of nowhere, there was a light rapping at the window. I whirl around just in time to see the window open from the outside and a figure crawl in. “Hi everyone!” Madoka calls cheerfully as she jumped down from her perch to stand in the base.

Naru was far from pleased at her presence though. “Madoka, why on earth did you show up here?” he thundered, standing up and slamming his teacup down on the table.

“I wanted to tell you what turned up in my investigation.” She said, taking a seat in the open chair beside Lin. Figuring that she was going to be here for a bit, I went over and poured another cup of tea and offering it to her. She nodded silently in thanks before turning to face Naru. He wasn’t done with his angry lecture mode yet.

“But you know that it’s extremely dangerous here!” he insists. “What if something had happened to you?”

She just smiles over the rim of the teacup. “I guess you’d have to come rescue me then. I heard that you’ve been making that quite the habit lately.” I unbiddenly blushed at that remark. That was a direct reference to the number of times that Naru had found himself in a perilous situation in my presence. She must have heard it from Lin. The others immediately turned to grin at me, causing my slight blush to deepen until it looked like a normal person blush.

Naru, for his part, looked equally as put out.

Madoka let up with the teasing though and was quickly back to task, pulling out papers from the file folder that she had tucked under her arm. “Okay, let’s start with Suzuki, the girl you called me about this morning. I questioned all of the bus and taxi driver companies that operate in the area and none of their drivers said they saw or picked up any woman fitting her description.” It wasn’t like we didn’t already know that, but at least we now had confirmation that she hadn’t left the property, or even the mansion.

“Moving on to the disappearances two months ago. The first was apparently a boy who was here partying with several friends. They reported that he staggered out of the room at one point and never came back.” This sounded like some stupid American horror movie. How was this even real life? What kind of anime bullshit was this that someone staggered off into a mansion that they weren’t supposed to be in and _never came back._ “A week later, an official search was ordered. The police came out to comb the property and that’s when a 21-year-old man from the fire brigade disappeared. And as for the Miamas; well I’ll begin with Miama Kaneyuki.”

“The man was meticulous.” She explained, looking oddly excited about delving into the people that had been the original owners of this fucked up place. “Listen to this; an employee at his silk mill had been embezzling money from other workers and was understandably fired. But Kaneyuki also fired the man’s oldest son, who worked in the mill as well as 3 other sons who were on staff at the hospital. The house that they all lived in, as well as the house of his daughter and son in-law, was actually rented to them by Kaneyuki, and they were all evicted from those properties.”

John looked shocked. “He kicked them all out?”

“Apparently even the embezzlers parents were employed by Kaneyuki on the grounds here and he told them to clear out too.” Madoka added, looking albeit mildly impressed. To be fair, so was I.

Ayako raised an eyebrow. “Jeez, talk about thorough.” That was even more thorough that I would be if I considered someone a traitor. Madoka was right, this guy _was_ meticulous.

Madoka nodded emphatically. “Yeah. It seems the man became sort of famous for it. Anyway, he wasn’t a very sociable guy and always insisted on hiring his maids from outside the area.” She continued. Oh yeah, he was definitely trying to cover something up. You aren’t that cautious just for shits and giggles. “He was very adamant about keeping people away from his house. Over time, the locals began to suspect something fishy must be happening here. His son, Hiroyuki, tried to keep people away too; and was known to say some pretty strange things.”

Naru turned sharply to face her. “What kind of things?”

“Whenever anyone would ask him why he was constantly adding onto the house, the answer he always gave was; ‘there are ghosts in there, I’m doing it to shut the ghosts inside and keep them from getting out.’ Odd, isn’t it.” Then Madoka perked up and held up the second manila folder that she had. “You’ll find everyone’s personal histories in here nice and neat. Can I do anything else for you?”

Naru took the envelope from her hand and tucked it under his arm. “Yes, I would like you to investigate Miama Charity Hospital.”

“You got it!” she chirped before skipping back over to the still open window. “Bye!” And then she was climbing out the window like she’d never been here. She wasn’t supposed to be after all, Ohashi had asked us to not leave the premises while investigating. I suppose that was the advantage of not having Madoka officially on the team that Naru took with him on cases.

Naru picked up the old piece of money before walking back over to his table and beginning to spread everything out around it, pushing the bag of apples over to the side and beginning to spread everything else out in a weird murder board like fashion. He seemed deep in thought as he read some of the files, so I simply grabbed the other manila folder from him – he was very focused on the physical evidence that we had anyways – and tossed a couple stapled files to both Yasu and Lin.

“Come on, let’s scan these over to look for anything that sounds too weird.”

* * *

Before going to bed, Naru had sent Ayako, Masako, and I out to go get some of the tapes from the older cameras. We were just on our way back to the base when we came across Atsuki – Minami’s ‘staff member’ – in one of the hallways. He stopped in front of us, looking like he had something to get off of his chest.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t any help to you this morning.” He said stiffly, his eyes gazing blankly and lazily at us. You know the type, that one guy in the office who’s been working the desk job for years and is just sort of over life and going through the motions. Except, Atsuki was young – maybe only a couple years older than Naru and Yasu.

I sigh heavily before pasting on a polite smile. “Oh, that’s alright. I’m sorry if I came off as rude towards you. I assure you, the only person that I have a problem with is your boss.” I say, getting an elbow in the side from Ayako who thought that I shouldn’t say it like that. But I was all about honesty. Yep. Totally. Always telling the truth.

Atsuki had to know that his boss was an asshole, anyways.

“I just hope that we can find Suzuki as soon as possible.” He says robotically, looking just past my left ear. “Good night then.” And then he walked past us, going deeper into the mansion.

“You know,” I begin thoughtfully. “Atsuki doesn’t seem all that bad. I wonder how he got stuck working with someone like Minami.” I think aloud as we continue down the hallways back on our way to the base.

Masako stuck her nose in the air and stalked past me. “What’s even more baffling is why Naru would choose you as an assistant.” Ayako snickered past me and hurried after Masako.

I growl lowly before extending my stride and easily catching up with the two women. “I’ll have you know that I have a surprisingly wide plethora of psychic abilities that Naru is currently helping me develop, I think that he’s actually trying to write a paper on it…” He had been taking an awful lot of notes, and since Oliver Davis has been pretty inactive for the past couple of years, working on a research paper seems like the way to go, right? “And I’m great with tech and business. What Lin doesn’t handle I do.” Masako just rolled her eyes at me.

But she didn’t say anything else, so I count that as a win for me.

* * *

_This time, I’m not standing in some dark black abyss like I normally would. Instead, I had found myself at the centre of a blue radiating glow. It was a royal blue, and rather pretty. I was at the centre, and around the edges it faded into the abyss, so technically speaking, I was still in the abyss of the astral plane. Was it the astral plane if Gene wasn’t there?_

_Gene wasn’t there, but that didn’t mean that I was alone in the dream world. For some reason, Atsuki was there, walking away from the radiating blue._

_No! Wait! You shouldn’t go over there! Listen to me! Please come back!_

_But he was already walking into the blackness, fading away into the shadows before I could even move._

_If you go that way, something bad is going to happen!_

_He was already gone. It was too late – something bad had already happened. Possibly even moments after he’d passed us in the hallway._

* * *

I was woken by very loud banging on the door to our room. I launched myself out of bed, tucking my tail under the back of my shirt and grabbing a small knife before approaching the door slowly. The banging had also woken Naru and Lin, but they were slower to get up, so I was the one who opened the door.

“It’s Minami! I’m sorry it’s so late.” I wrench open the door to find a surprisingly frazzled man standing outside of the secondary door to the rooms that we were staying in. “Have you by chance seen Atsuki tonight?” he asked me frantically.

I frowned, shoving the knife that I had into the back of my pants and opening the door further so that he could come into the base. “Naru, can you wake up the others? I’m going to make Mr. Minami some tea and try to figure out what has happened.” I whisper to him as we pass him to get to the main part of the base. He nods as I hurry over to get some water boiling. “Mr. Minami if you would please sit down and tell me exactly what has happened.”

He still looked rather panicked, but now that I had forced him to sit down and had shoved a mug of warm liquid into his hands, he looked much calmer. “Well we were all heading back to our rooms for the night when Atsuki remembered that he left his sweater in the foyer. He went back to get it and didn’t return. I asked Ms. Igurashi already, and your team was my second stop.”

“Well I’m sorry to tell you that the last time I saw Atsuki was when I was walking back to our base after a quick walk-through.” I tell him slowly, reaching down to pull out my phone and flipping through my folders of contacts until I pull up Mr. Ohashi’s. “But I’ll see if Mr. Ohashi can ask around with the staff.”

* * *

“I’m sorry to say that none of our staff members have anything to say about Atsuki.” Ohashi said to the room of gathered people. Our base had become quite popular, for meetings like this – seeing as it was one of the bigger normal looking rooms in the house, it didn’t surprise me.

“Shouldn’t we take this opportunity to again ask Dr. Davis to use his abilities?” Igurashi pleaded, clutching her shall tightly around her shoulder. “And if the Doctor is unable to use his clairvoyance then perhaps someone else can.”

Minami stuttered and looked away. “Ah yes… but perhaps…”

But Igurashi was done with his bullshit. “This is an emergency, sir!” she yelled, slamming her frail hands on the table and looking utterly distraught. “Two people have vanished in two days, and one of them is your assistant! Why wouldn’t we ask for help, unless you’ve been lying to us about the identity of the man you’ve brought with you to this house!” Oh wow, I hadn’t even hinted all that much at that. Kudos to Ms. Igurashi for figuring this shit out on her own. “Is it true? Could it be that this man, is just an impostor?”

“Well I’m not just going to sit here and take this,” Minami declared, before getting up and looking ready to stomp away. “How dare you insult not only myself, but the honourable Professor Davis as well. It’s obvious now; we’re being forced to solve this case all by ourselves.” No? That is the furthest thing from what Ms. Igurashi was saying? Also… I highly doubt that he had actually figured anything out. He was posturing too much for that – not to mention how nervous he always seemed. It wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t have the help of any spiritualists at all. “Please, come with me Professor.”

But now Igurashi had planted another seed of doubt in the others. “You know, somethings not right about that guy.” Ayako said thoughtfully, watching as the Davis impostor got up and the duo left the base.

John nodded, “you know, we don’t really have any proof that this man is actually Dr. Davis.” Naru looks over his shoulder, him and Lin standing off near the window and away from the others. Oh this case definitely had something fishy with it, and it wasn’t just the weirdness of the house. This was like some damn reality TV show shit.

“You mean, apart from Mr. Minami’s insistence.” Yasu added, throwing in his two cents. “And he didn’t use his clairvoyance _again._ ”

Just like with Suzuki, I had the feeling that even if someone were to try using clairvoyant abilities, it would already be too late to help Atsuki. The scent of blood in the air had increased again, and that wasn’t promising. There was no way that we’d be able to get to him in time.

(I don’t want to think about what we would do if someone from our own team went missing. This house was incredibly volatile, and it only spelled trouble for everyone who stayed here more than a few minutes.)

* * *

[Day 4]

It’s been four days since we started this case, and we’re at a standstill. “I still can’t get used to this house!” I grumble as I nearly trip over that one weird step on the 13th staircase we’d encountered today.

“Yeah, I mean normally you’d never think of a person going missing inside a house.” Yasu nods in agreement, nearly tripping over a stair in his enthusiasm to continue the conversation. We’d been walking around the house and trying to find where we’d left off the last time that we were measuring things, and as such, we hadn’t really been talking all that much. “But in this place–”

“Hey!” John interrupts suddenly, calling out attention to a weird alcove in the side of the stairs. “There’s a door here!”

Monk immediately begins to grumble as we all gather around John as he tries to open the door. “Fantastic. Another secret room?!”

John finally gets the door open and immediately flicks on his flashlight. For having such a small door, you’d have thought that it would have nothing more than a crawl space hidden behind it, but it had a weird half room. There was a bed all made up in there as well as a hanging portrait of someone. In most of the other rooms, there was absolutely no decorations. A painting – and a portrait at that – was something really odd to find.

“I wonder who we have here.” Naru says as he holds the painting an arms length away from himself and gets a good look at it.

“It says Meiji 32, self portrait, Urado.” Monk helpfully points out, reading the kanji on the back. Naru hadn’t yet admitted that he wasn’t great with reading Kanji, but the others had seen the romanji that he used as well as the English documents that I wrote for him, so they’d taken to subtly reading things written in Japanese aloud for him.

Naru flips the painting around and stares at the neat vertical rows of hand painted (that looked like calligraphy actually) kanji written along the back of the canvas. “Oh really,” he murmurs.

“So who’s Urado?” Ayako butted in, returning to the base with a fluffy towel in her hands and shoving it towards John.

John took the offered towel and rubbed at the dust and soot that had collected on his face from when he grabbed the painting from the small room. “Since the self portrait was hanging there, I would guess that it was likely someone close to Mr. Miama.” A safe deduction.

Yasu turns to Naru, “should we ask Mr. Ohashi if he knows anything about it?” Naru suddenly looked up, his eyes unnaturally wide as he seemed to come to a conclusion.

“Urado, I think– yes.” Naru hurriedly placed that piece of money that we’d found beside the kanji and turned to the rest of us. I moved forwards, leaning past him to get a good look at the two written pieces of evidence that we’d found.

“Wait wouldn’t someone read that as ‘tora’?” and then it dawned on me. “Shit, we said that this bill would probably have been from the Meiji era, that would mean that it would be read from right to left.” I reach forwards and out a blank piece of paper and began writing. “That would mean that the righting would actually look something like this.”

Monk placed a hand on his chin. “The first part would be; ‘everyone who has come here is dead.’ I think.”

“And I’m guessing that the last part there is ‘run away’,” Ayako through in, looking equally as grim as everyone else in the room. Hearing that everyone was dead, well that wasn’t all that great if I was going to be perfectly honest. I already had a gut feeling that Suzuki was dead, and I didn’t have much hope for Atsuki, but now we had somewhat of a certainty that people had been going missing and been killed for a long long time. “Do you think that this was supposed to be a message to someone?”

Yasu took the paper from me and looked quizzically at it for a moment. “Well we can easily assume that ‘here’ is likely in reference to this house. And Madoka said that Kaneyuki wouldn’t allow anyone to come here.”

“Maybe this ‘Urado’ person did something really bad and Kaneyuki didn’t want anyone to know.” John threw out an idea.

Ayako turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow at the priest. “That’s an awful lot of trouble to go through for one person. Why wouldn’t he just expose him?”

“Maybe Urado was holding him hostage.” Monk suggested. “And when he finally decided to communicate with someone on the outside, the only thing he had to use was this bill.”

Naru just shook his head and began to organize the scattered papers on the table, making note of our new translations. “In any case, we’ve learned some very interesting facts today. And once we use them…”

“Let’s not forget that we know something else as well.” Naru’s head jerked up to look at Masako. In fact, we all did. She stared at us with such conviction that I was taken aback. “The spirits here spoke quite clearly at the séance. I am now certain that they are the spirits of those people who have died in this house.”

* * *

_I was laying in bed as I thought about what had happened today. What we found made way more questions than they answered. People that died here? And who did that hospital quote belong to? Not to mention Atsuki and Suzuki._

_My breath suddenly caught in my chest and I was suddenly unable to so much as twitch. It was like my muscles had frozen – but I remained limp. I hadn’t felt this kind of trapped since I was literally incapacitated by Mary. That’s when I realized that I couldn’t see much in the room despite it not even being that dark. This was comparable to the time that my powers were suppressed._

_That did nothing to decrease the steadily mounting panic that was building in my chest._

_The doorknob began to turn, my eyes struggled to flick over to see what was trying to open the door. My head lolled to the side, seeing the beds over on the other side of the wall where Naru and Lin were sleeping_ right there _. Why weren’t they waking up? The door was opening?! I can’t fucking move, and they are just sleeping._

_Two sets of footsteps enter the room and walk towards my limp form. I’m desperately trying to move but nothing is fucking working. Suddenly I can see two faces above me and hands are wrapping themselves around my arms. They drag me out of my bed and over to the door. I still can’t move. The door closes behind us without so much as a soft click._

_Let me go!_

_We stop briefly in a room with a crackling fire – I’d never seen this one before. And just like every cliché movie, there was a seat facing the fire and beside it a round end table with a single wine glass sitting in the centre. It had some bright red liquid inside it, and I honestly couldn’t tell if it was wine or blood at this point. One thing was certain though, someone was here._

_The faceless men dragged me through some more heavy ass looking doors and behind it looked like the outside… but it wasn’t. There was a ceiling above us, a dark ceiling, but a ceiling nonetheless. Further into the ‘room’ there was a series of hedges – probably a hedge maze – and beneath my feet was dirt. Wet dirt. So that explains why I thought that I was outside._

_Wait. Wet dirt?_

_My eyes travel downwards without my trying, and I see that the dirt isn’t just wet, it’s practically soaked with blood. My feet drag through the blood, soaking my knees with the substance, as the two faceless men drag me through the maze._

_We stop before a bright white door and when it opens I’m immediately hit with the scent of blood. Through that door there’s stairs, and down those pristine stairs, there is a wooden hallway with a heavy rusty metal door._

_Stop! I don’t want to go in there!_

_The feeling of terror not completely my own overtakes my system. One of the men carrying me lets go and pushes open the door to allow the other one to carry me into the room. It’s a dark tiled room and it’s completely covered in blood. It looks like someone was hacked apart by a saw in here, there was that much blood everywhere. Over to the side of the room there was a bathtub filled to the brim with the stuff._

_The man holding me suddenly lets me go, leaving me to stumble and nearly careen into the wall. My body felt heavy. I wasn’t wearing what I had fallen asleep in, in fact, I was wearing a thick white kimono. How fitting._

_I didn’t have much more time to take in the room because the man who had let me go decided that I had had enough to orient myself because he grabbed my fucking_ hair _and proceeded to use that as leverage to drag me deeper into the room. All I could do was clutch onto his arm and scratch at it weakly. The both of us left bloody footprints on the greenish tile as we went._

_I’m slammed violently onto the tiled table in the middle of the room and then strapped me to the table with my head hanging limply over the side of the table. I look at the men upside down, staring in horror as one of the men makes a show out of tugging on rubber gloves. My heart is racing and I can’t control the frightened whimpers that escape my pursed lips._

_This is just a dream. I need to wake up._

I don’t want to die.

_One of the men approaches the table, his knife glinting in the low light._

_Somebody… help…_

I don’t want to die.

_He raises the knife, bringing it just above my throat before winding up for a large chopping motion. He grabs my hair and wrenches my hair back so that I am bearing my throat. I feel the pressure of metal on my neck._

I don’t want to die.

_I DON’T WANT TO DIE!_


	19. File 6 - Part 3

_He raises the knife, bringing it just above my throat before winding up for a large chopping motion. He grabs my hair and wrenches my hair back so that I am bearing my throat. I feel the pressure of metal on my neck._

I don’t want to die.

_I DON’T WANT TO DIE!_

* * *

My eyes fly open as a scream wrenches itself from my vocal chords. The terror that I’m feeling is so uncontrollable in that moment and it feels like I’m not the one in possession of my own body. I can’t stop myself from screaming.

Luckily, I’m stopped by a hand coming and slapping my face so hard that my head flies to the side. I slowly turn my head back to face the ceiling to see that both Lin and Naru were looking down at me with some serious concern. Naru still had his hand raised. Tears began to gather in the corners of my eyes without my consent and before I knew what I was doing I had launched myself up and into Naru’s chest. I’m sobbing uncontrollably, and I don’t even know why.

I just feel so _raw_ emotionally. I’ve never felt like this before. Not this level of _fear_.

I guess I had always been a predator, and this was my first experience really being _prey_.

Naru slowly wraps his arms around my shoulders and awkwardly pats my head as I cry into his shirt. My tail lies curled tightly around my torso under my shirt. Every single bit of me is telling me to run and fight simultaneously. All my senses were firing off at me. My only response to being so overwhelmed, was to cry hysterically.

“Hey!” Bangs come from the door and I curl myself tighter into Naru. “Open up!” Oh, that’s Monk. Naru’s own grip had tightened when he realized that I had tensed up further. Lin looked around the bed quickly – deeming my tail sufficiently hidden – and then he got up and unlocked the door. Almost as soon as the door was opened, Monk, John, Ayako, Masako, and Yasu came running in. “Is everything okay in here?” He stopped when he saw that I was crying into Naru’s chest. He stared at me with a look that was a combination of awe and horror. “Karma…”

I buried my face into Naru’s chest as Yasu nearly began yelling. “Karma! What happened?” Out of all the times that he (or any of them really) had seen me, I’d never cried. I’d never been so much as emotionally compromised (well, other than out of anger) and now here I was, crying my eyes out right after screaming so loudly that it woke everyone else up.

“It was a dream,” I whisper my fingers wrinkling Naru’s night shirt with my tight grip. “Or more like a nightmare.”

“Was it… one of those dreams?” Monk prodded gently, bending down to squat beside the bed that Naru and I were on.

I nod silently. “I think so,” I murmur.

Yasu takes that as an indication that I am okay to speak and gently squats beside Monk. “Can you tell us what happened?” he asked, lowering his voice slightly in an attempt to not freak me out. I was aware now, and the foreign emotions were slowly draining away, but I appreciated the effort all the same.

“I dreamt that I was being killed. Two men came in… and they dragged me to a strange room covered with tiles. And then they cut me.” I said in a slight monotone as I processed the fact that for all intents and purposes, I had just been murdered. Even if it wasn’t really _me_ that had experienced it, I still remembered every little detail. I had a feeling that it would be imprinted in my mind for months to come. “It was a perfect incision right across the major artery in my neck. I bled out before I could even scream.”

Naru’s grip tightens on my shoulder briefly before he gently smooths out my hair. “That’s enough for now. You don’t need to relive it.” He knew what I had experienced – maybe not on the same level, but Naru had seen his brother’s murder with his clairvoyance. He had been killed as well. You don’t forget that type of thing, no matter how much shit you’d seen. “Are you okay?” He asks me softly.

I turn in his grip, looking up at his concerned eyes. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

* * *

[April]

[Day 5]

After my impromptu freak out this morning, everyone else piled out of our room to get ready for the morning. Breakfast was a pretty normal affair for us; everyone sat around the table and ate in relative silence. Well that was until someone inevitably brought up the case and then it’s back to business. I think we all appreciate the small moments of peace before we return to death and mystery.

“What does everyone think about this theory,” Yasu offered suddenly. “We know that there’s a chance that Suzuki and Atsuki have passed on. Could your dream have been an accurate representation of what they suffered at the hands of this unknown killer?”

“A dream that’s telepathic?” John asks, his eyes flickering over to glance between me and Naru.

Ayako turned to look at me. “If that’s the case then they’ve both been murdered.”

“It’s very likely,” I admitted, “my powers have been growing in accuracy and realism over the past months, and I experienced emotions not my own. I would have to ask if Suzuki slept in a white kimono, but with how the victim was taken, it was most likely her death that I experienced. I’ve had a feeling that they’ve been killed – most likely before we even found out that they were missing.”

Monk looked down and glanced superstitiously at the two members of the staff that had delivered our breakfast and were still lingering for some reason. “This may sound crazy but is there any chance that the people here are up to something?” he suggests. “Just look at the situation; the employees have been here for a full week and nothing’s happened to them. Yet we’ve been here for three days and two people have already disappeared.”

He did have a point. But there was something that we are missing here. There has to be something that Suzuki, Atsuki and the other people who disappeared had in the past couple of months.

“Now that you mention it, no one directly associated with the house has disappeared.” Yasu agreed with a grim look on his face. “Only outsiders are the ones being affected.

“What about this; is it possible the spirits prefer people of a certain age?” John proposed, sitting up straight and looking like he was on to something. “All of the staff are of the older persuasion, and yet everyone who’s disappeared has been younger.” Shit – there’s the connection that we were looking for.

Naru sat up, placing his chopsticks down beside the empty bowl in front of him. “Nice work.” He told us before getting up and going to grab his notebook. “Yasu, Karma, make sure you’re never alone in this house.” We nodded. Even if I was sure that I could handle whatever this awful place would throw at me, for the peace of mind of everyone involved, I wouldn’t go alone. I could also help protect them – not splitting up was the smartest decision. “Priestess, how much faith can I entrust in you?”

“What do you mean by that?” she snapped.

He continued to plow on, deadly serious. “It’s become very dangerous here and Yasu is unable to defend himself. I need people I can rely on to protect him under any circumstances.”

“Okay, I understand.”

It was harsh, but it was the reality that we were dealt. We couldn’t afford to travel in large packs but going alone was also out of the question. Yasu was the only one in our group that had next to no knowledge on anything paranormal, and that made him the only one without some kind of defense. I had a feeling that my powers would work a lot better for me here – this feels much more like the Jikininki than any of the other spirits that we’ve dealt with. I’m thinking my fire will work against this thing – even if my mantras didn’t do the job.

“So, to what extent can I count on you.” He was getting really serious now.

Ayako sighed. “Just some warding magic.”

“That’s not good enough.” He snapped. “Ms. Matsuzaki, Ms. Hara, you two are not to leave each other’s sight. I know you focus mainly on being a medium, but you can at least protect yourself, right?”

Masako nodded, her face completely serious and somber. “I can.”

Next, Naru turned to look at Monk and John. “Monk, John, the two of you will protect Yasu.”

“Right.”

Masako looked oddly troubled. “But… who will protect Karma? Unless…”

He wasn’t… was he?

“Lin will protect Karma.”

Lin immediately stopped typing and whirled around in his seat to look at Naru. “But Naru, who will be looking out for you?” he demanded. I was not on board with being protected here, not at the expense of Naru. He knew that I could look after myself, and while he could too, I healed faster. “Don’t forget you can’t perform warding magic – Karma can.” Lin stomped over to Naru and stopped about two feet away from the other teen.

“I’ll manage.” He snapped.

Lin’s face was flushed as he did his Lin equivalent of yelling. “You’re out of your mind. You need to have some protection. Takigawa can cover Yasu, and Father Brown can protect Karma. Their warding magic will work well together.”

Naru shook his head. “Be that as it may, Monk can’t handle it alone.”

“Hey man! I’m not an amateur!” Monk called indignantly, getting fired up over the perceived slight.

Naru crossed his arms and glared at everyone around the table. “I don’t think you understand the danger here.”

“Then send one of them away. I cannot allow you to be alone in this house! If you were to come to harm while on a job, how would you expect me to explain that to the professor?” Lin looked down at Naru, his voice harsh and forceful. I always forget that Lin has to report to Naru’s parents. I always forget that Naru has parents that care for him. “Think about how your parents would feel if something happened.”

“Lin. If you don’t like the way that I conduct my investigations, then leave.”

“How quickly you seem to forget, my main objective is to protect you at all costs.”

I decide to try and diffuse the tension by providing another solution. “Lin, I can look after myself well enough! You protect Naru, and I’ll tag along so that I’m not alone.” I jump in, providing another way out. Unfortunately, while Lin and Naru (and maybe a little bit John) know that I can look after myself well enough, Monk, Masako, and Ayako still have no idea the true extent of my abilities. So far, they’d only seen me use the nine cuts semi-successfully.

“No way! You’re just as bad as Naru when it comes to attracting trouble!” Monk pointed out. “Besides, you only know two mantras and they aren’t that strong! You’re untrained, it’s too dangerous.” Ayako and the others nodded in agreement, looking at me like I was some kid that needed looking after. Gehenna below, is this how Naru’s feeling right now? No wonder he’s so cross right now.

Yasu casually raises his hand. “I’ll volunteer to go. I’m basically useless already, and I don’t really do all that well in paranormal situations.” At this admission, the tension slowly began to bleed from the room as it was decided that Lin would protect Naru, while Takigawa and John would protect me on account of the fact that I was such a danger magnet. Well that and how Monk had convinced the others not in the know that I was basically helpless.

I caught Yasu’s sleeve before he ducked out the window. “Keep me updated.” I whisper to him. He nods silently, and then he disappears out the window along with Madoka.

* * *

“The house is built up higher at it’s centre.” Lin explained to us, pulling up the schematics and blue prints that he’d made on his laptop. “The floors on the first level slope up towards the centre, leaving it about 2m higher than the perimeter of the structure. Judging from the placement of the windows, it looks like the owner added rooms and increased the overall size outward from the centre. That’s about everything we know up to this point.”

Naru shuffles some papers before staring at the screen intently. “What we don’t know is what’s inside this empty section.” He passed out the basic layout of the house to the rest of us.

“If it’s a hidden room it’s gigantic.” Monk pointed out, looking at the vast unknown area in the middle of the map. I have a bad feeling that that hedge maze and the tiled room were what was hidden at the centre of this house. And if that is true, then people are being taken literally through walls. Fucking ghosts.

“But we’ve searched all over and there doesn’t seem to be a way inside.” John protested, looking up at the tall Monk.

Naru look up suddenly. “What if the way inside doesn’t actually exist.” Yep. Definitely taking people through walls. I cocked my head to the side, urging Naru to continue. “What if this area wasn’t originally intended to be hidden but was sealed later. If we assume that the structure was built from the inside out, it must have had a purpose at some time. I can’t see a logical explanation as to why they’d continue to build on top of the room if they didn’t want to hide it.

Naru walked across the room to stare at our makeshift murder board (papers taped onto a wall since we didn’t have a whiteboard available) and stared at it as if it held the secrets to the universe. Or you know, just the solution to this case.

“That’s where the tiled room is.” I say suddenly. It’s only a guess, but that feeling in my gut is telling me that it’s there.

Naru didn’t bother turning to look at me. “Is that your intuition speaking?”

“I think so.”

There’s a light rapping on the window and it opens to reveal Madoka and Yasu. “Hey everyone!” she smiles.

“We have some new information for you.”

Naru shook his head in disappointment as he moved over to help the two inside. “I thought I told the both of you that it was too dangerous.”

Yasu shook his head, shucking off his coat so as to not overheat. “Don’t worry about me, I’m just here to assist.”

“And besides, it’s perfectly safe outside the house. They’ve even got a little playground out there.” Madoka added cheerfully. “The backyard for this place is huge! Before all these incidents started to happen all of the neighbourhood kids would use it to play soccer. But _none_ of those children ever went missing, which proves the danger only lies within the house.”

“Oh, I noticed something strange about the house from outside.” Yasu says, reaching into a manila envelope and then producing a photo of the house and placing it on the table. It focused mainly on the roof of the structure. “It’s the number of chimneys. When we were investigating the place earlier, I believe we found either 10 or 11 fireplaces. But if you look here there are 12 chimneys. And as you can see, the extra chimney is round and much thicker and made with brick instead of plaster.”

“That right above the hidden space.” Monk gasped in shock.

Naru nods, “there’s definitely something there. We can’t know that that’s where Karma’s tile room is, but it’s looking more and more likely.

It felt like the ground had fallen out from beneath my feet, but I was powerless to move.

“We also have more info on Kaneyuki,” Madoka continued. “Apparently his health condition had been quite fragile ever since childhood.”

Yasu then took over the explanation. “When he was young he was told that the chances of him living a full life were slim. He then traveled extensively abroad and had foreign doctors examine him for second opinions.”

Madoka nodded, “also, after Kaneyuki moved into the house, he kept two employees with him at all times.”

A chill fell over my heart, my pulse began to race. Two of them?

“At the time, there were two rooms, the two were connected via a complicated maze of hedges. The gardeners that maintained the grounds said that the maze was so creepy that they avoided working there as much as possible.” Fuck. It’s fucking Kaneyuki – he’s the one who was getting his two assistants to kill people. “They also said that the room had a putrid smell and that the staff was constantly changing.”

“Did you find anything out about the relationship between Kaneyuki and Urado?”

Yasu nodded, reading back into the folder to pull out more materials. “In fact, I did. Urado was an assumed name he often went by.

I was sweating and shivering and on the verge of a panic attack. My heart was pounding in my ears and I was gripping my shoulder so tightly that my nails had ripped through the skin and were drawing blood. It dripped down my arm lazily, staining the fabric of my white button up. The smell of blood only made my state of panic worse, and I began very nearly hyperventilating. I didn’t want to hear any more.

Yasu’s eyes widened as he caught sight of me. “Karma! Are you okay?”

Monk jumped up, turning to look at me and reacting in panic when he saw how I was bleeding. “Karma–” But he was cut off by Masako raising a hand and walked slowly over to me.

“Not this person,” she says gently, laying a carefully light hand on my shoulder just above where my own were. “He is incapable of saving you. Remember, you’re already dead. Now come out, don’t be frightened, just step into the light and walk towards it. Then you will find some peace.” And just like that the panic vanished; along with the spirit that had been feeling the panic.

“Shit. The one time I don’t wear my damn charm.” I cursed, uncurling my fingers and looking over at the bloody marks on my shirt. (I had taken to wearing the Eye of Ra on a cord wrapped around my wrist so that I could rub over it when I go anxious. It had a kind of placebo effect on me – it’s a protection symbol, so as long as I wear it and I know it’s there, I can’t be possessed) “Thanks Masako.”

She smiled, “since we were talking about them, one of the spirits inside the house possessed you.” She informed me, letting her hand slip from my shoulder. “I believe it was one of the staff members we were just discussing.” I hadn’t noticed, but in the time that Masako took to get the spirit out of me, Naru had disappeared into our room and then come back. He stood in front of me, holding out both the charm that he’d given me for my birthday and an apple.

I took the charm and quickly wrapped it around my wrist before looking at the apple in his hand. He raised an eyebrow at me. “Karma. Eat.” I roll my eyes but take the apple nonetheless. I was perfectly fine – in fact, my obsession with eating apples to look more like an asshole was probably gone – I didn’t need so many apples. Seriously, where was Naru getting all of these apples?

But since Masako was standing right next to me and she had her beady eyes set on my person for some reason, she saw me put on the charm. “How unusual, what kind of charm is that and where on earth did you find it?” she asked curiously, staring pointedly at my wrist. I shrug, holding up my wrist so that the charm hanging there amongst wrapped strands of cord was clearly visible to the entire room.

“It’s the Eye of Ra. While it’s not as common as the Eye of Horus, it is still a protective charm against the paranormal – specifically psychics and spirits. As for where I got it, well you’d have to ask Naru. He’s the one who got it for me.”

Madoka quirked an eyebrow at me, looking at me in amusement. “Naru got it for you? Why would he do that?”

I raised both my eyebrows (gotta one up her). I mean… wasn’t it obvious? “Well I’m kind of a spirit magnet so the protection is basic human decency. And he gave it to me on my birthday.” Everybody’s eyes bugged out of their heads and I was suddenly aware of why that would be surprising. _Naru_ had not only gotten me a gift but had gotten me a _birthday_ gift.

“What?!” Monk yelled, looking completely scandalized. “We missed your birthday? Why didn’t you tell us earlier? We would have done something.”

I frown at him. Well that wasn’t quite what I was expecting although it was close enough. “Well we were on a case – we needed to focus. Besides, I don’t really like celebrating my birthday. It’s on the anniversary of a pretty awful event that happened to some friends of mine. The only reason Naru found out was because I put it down on my file when he hired me.” Seeing that Monk and the others didn’t want to let this topic go, I pushed on before the others could speak, bringing us back on topic. “And whatever spirit just possessed me, they were the one who I… well was last night.” I decided. Her emotions felt exactly the same as the ones from the dream and based off the varying… feels of the spirits in this house, I was willing to bet that like people, each spirit had a different feel. I can tell when they are the same or not.

Monk immediately sobered up. “You saw the spirit’s memories?” he asked softly. I nodded, a little bit surprised when Masako wrapped an arm around my side and seemed to be trying to comfort me. I don’t understand why; I was fine. She had driven out the foreign emotions and I was no longer afraid or sad. I didn’t shake her off though – that would be rude.

“So, the spirits of those murdered in the same way are still wandering the house.” Naru murmured thoughtfully. And of course, that was when the lights went out. Fan-fucking-tastic. I clapped my hands over my ears as wailing began to emanate from the walls. Strong hands covered my own, and I look up bleary-eyed to see that Naru was helping me attempt to block out the sound. My ears _hurt_. Every damn case. Every. Damn. Case. “Nobody move,” he ordered.

The wails stopped abruptly, and with their ceasing, the lights turned back on. Of course, the newfound light revealed that there was red writing all over the walls of our base. It was written with the same handwriting as on that one red paper from the séance. It was everywhere, even on the damn ceiling. These spirits sure do move fast.

“Is… that blood?” Ayako gasped in shock, eyeing the walls. And that’s when I smelt it. Yeah, that’s definitely blood. “It’s everywhere.”

I look around the room, only then realizing that Naru still hadn’t uncovered my ears. “Naru, look. There’s Urado’s name. It’s everywhere.” The others called over in agreement, citing their own findings of the name. Naru let go of my head, allowing me to straighten out of my slight curl and uncover my ears.

That’s what allowed me to hear the light footsteps approaching the base door. They halted the examination and we all turned to stare at the door as the sound got loud enough for the others to hear, suddenly very apprehensive. “Who’s that?”

Madoka was quick to take action, “Yasu, let’s go.” He nodded and both of them made a mad dash for the window, jumping out and barely getting it shut before the footsteps reached the door. “Be careful guys!” she whispered right as the window slammed shut. Not a moment too soon either, because Mr. Ohashi came crashing into the base without so much as knocking.

“Is everyone all right?” he panted, “it looks like this room has gotten it as well. I don’t know how it happened, but this strange writing just appeared on the walls. It looks like blood.” The man looked quite frazzled and out of place as he stood by the open door to our base.

“Just how many spirits are in this house?” Ayako grumbled, crossing her arms and turning to look around the room to see the extent of the damage.

“The name Urado seems to be more important than I originally thought.” Naru knocked lightly on the wall. “I doubt it’s a simply alias. If only we knew what it meant.” He turned to look over at Masako suddenly. “Ms. Hara, do you feel up to performing a séance tonight?”

She flinched backwards slightly but nodded anyways. “Yes, of course.”

Ayako whirled around to glare at the teen. “What? That’s an awful idea. You’re talking about letting a spirit possess Masako – what if she has to experience the same things that Karma did. He’s usually completely unaffected by everything, but he had a complete breakdown this morning, Naru!” she yelled in protest.

“Ms. Hara is a professional.” He snapped.

Ayako wasn’t done. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be murdered? Do you know how frightening and painful a moment of death can be? _Karma_ broke down, Naru. Karma has fallen down numerous wells and had a ceiling and a floor collapse on him, but he’s _never_ reacted like he did this morning. Professional or not, we don’t know if Masako can handle what will come for her.” She snapped, standing her ground.

Naru didn’t flinch, but his eyes did narrow at the priestess’ accusations. I step in front of him slightly, knowing that her accusations would bring up bad memories. He had relieved death – he did know what it was like. “Ayako, drop it. I was simply overwhelmed by someone else’s emotions. If Masako says she can handle it, then she can handle it.” I hiss.

Naru lightly touched my back – unknowingly touching my tail through my shirt – before turning to Lin. “You leave me no choice then. ‘You want a shot at it, Lin?”

“Yes, I do.” Lin nodded. “Don’t worry Ms. Matsuzaki. What I will do is called Shokon, and it will only summon the spirits.”

John leans over to Monk and whispers, “what is this ‘Shokon’?”

“It’s a method derived from Chinese wu gu shamanishm. I believe you need to have certain information about the spirit you want to summon, such as their name and birthdate.” Monk explained.

Lin nodded in agreement with the monk’s deductions. “I can only summon Suzuki and Atsuki now. That is of course, assuming that they have indeed passed on.”

Naru nodded sharply. “That’s good. Let’s go.”

As I filed out of the room after Naru, I heard Ayako murmur to the others. “Did you see the look on Karma’s face and in Naru’s eyes? For some reason, I think I may have offended them.”

* * *

It didn’t take long for Lin to prepare, and soon enough we were sitting in a dark room with Lin burning some incense and performing the necessary ritual. He painted on a folded piece of paper but hesitated before looking at Naru. “What about the date of death?”

“The day after she disappeared. That’s my best guess.”

Lin wrote it down and proceeded to light two candles. Then a trilling whistle sound filled the room, and something blew on one of the candles. In front of the table, a weird blue glowing substance began to gather and form into a single figure. She was facing away from us, but even then, it was easy to tell that it was Naoko. And there’s our proof that she’s dead.

You are Suzuki Naoko, right?” Naru began. She nodded, still not turning to look at us or the candles. “You are no longer of this world, were you aware of that?” This got a reaction out of the spirit. She turned to stare at us, her misty eyes going wide with panic and shock. She hasn’t realized that she’s dead. “Do you know why you died?” She shook her head in the negative. “Did anyone commit a vile act against you.” This time, she nodded.

Naru tilted his chin down slightly. “I see. Was it Urado?” She immediately began wailing – well, it looked like she was wailing. The weird thing about the spirit is that she was completely silent. I could hear no sound coming from her at all. Not even the crackle of energy that I thought I’d here. “You know him, don’t you?” She grasped her throat, like something was chocking her – or like someone had slashed her throat and she was trying in vain to hold her blood in. She pointed weakly at the wall that she had been staring at, her form flickering.

“Naru, we’re out of time.”

“One last question. Can you tell me where you are now?” Naru demanded harshly. She pointed frantically at the wall before ‘shrieking’ again and disappearing. I looked over at the others, taking in their quietly awed facial expression as Naru went to turn on the lights. Almost as soon as the lights were on, the other’s facial expressions turned from awed to horrified. I glance over at the wall only to see that there was a line of kanji written in dripping red on the wall.

“I guess Urado’s real name is Vlad.” Monk said grimly, reading the line of kanji and immediately drawing a conclusion about its meaning.

“I believe the name ‘Vlad’ is referring to the vampire Dracula.” John added in helpfully.

Ayako turned to look at him with wide eyes. “Dracula? The guy that sucks people’s blood. Are you implying that Urado sucked people’s blood too?”

Naru rolled his eyes. “There’s no such thing as blood sucking people. Vampires only exist in books. However, the story of Dracula, which Bram Stoker published in the 1800s, was based on an actual historical figure. He was Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler. He was the king of Wallachia, now known as Romania, during the 15th century. After the defeat of the Ottoman Turks, he was deemed a hero while simultaneously feared as being the son of the dragon or the child of the devil.” Naru lectured.

I actually remember doing a research paper on this guy for a world history class back at Ouran. “Oh, I remember this. Vlad’s father was named Vlad Dracul. The word ‘dracul’ had two definitions in Wallachia at that time; both ‘dragon’ and ‘devil’. The word ‘dracula’ means ‘child of dracul’, or in other words, ‘child of the devil’. To the people of Turkey, he was often referred to as the Impaler Prince.”

“How come?” Masako asked, looking slightly green.

Naru nodded, a slight look satisfaction on his face. He was glad that I interjected with actual relevant information then. “Vlad was meticulous and brutal. His favourite method of disposing of his enemies or anyone who betrayed him, was to impale them.” I’m suddenly reminded of what Madoka had said about Kaneyuki. _This Kaneyuki guy was very meticulous, he fired an entire family that worked for him when one of them was caught embezzling._

“Vlad and Urado. They do have some similar traits.” Monk admitted, rubbing the back of his neck and looking Naru in the eyes.

“By the time Kaneyuki traveled abroad, Dracula had been published years before. I would find it odd if he hadn’t heard of it.” Naru continued his information dump. “And then there’s Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian countess in the 17th century who is often associated with Vlad the Impaler.”

Ayako nodded in agreement, her mouth set in a grim line. “There are countless stories of Elizabeth being so obsessed with her fear of growing old, that she would kill young women and drain their blood. She would bathe in it, hoping it would restore her youth.” Shit. The bathtub – the one in the tiled room. It had been filled with blood. That’s why they had slit my throat, so that they could fill the bathtub with blood. _Fuck_.

“Kaneyuki must have grown to hate his frail body. And like Elizabeth Bathory, he might have thought that he could reverse his chronic health issues by sacrificing young people and using their blood for nefarious purposes.” Naru crossed his arms and leaned slightly against the wall.

I sigh, “that would explain why the staff kept changing so much.”

“I imagine so.”

Monk placed a hand over his mouth, lowering his gaze to stare off at the floor. “Now we can decipher what was written on that 5-yen bill. ‘Everyone who has come here is dead. I heard they were killed by Urado. Run away.’”

“So that was a warning for the next person who came here.” Ayako said stiffly.

“And wait, the coat that the 5-yen bill was found in belonged to the Miama Charity Hospital.” John added, looking excited as the pieces of the case continued to fall together to paint a rather bloody picture. “Why was it there?” he pondered before getting this wide eyed horrified look on his face.

Simultaneously, we all understood.

“No way! All those people in the shelter?” Monk gasped in horror.

Ayako turned to look at Monk, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and frustration. “Hold on, isn’t it a possibility that Hiroyuki knew what his father was up to in here?”

Monk nodded. “It sure is. And in order to hide his father’s dark secrets he kept building onto the mansion to seal them deep inside.”

That’s when I brought up the elephant in the room. “Kaneyuki died a long time ago, and yet people are still disappearing today. Also before, what could Suzuki have meant when she pointed to the wall?”

“Kaneyuki didn’t live a full life, which was obviously a major disappointment for him. He killed others in an attempt to stave off death, but still died sooner than he wished.” Naru declared, walking slowly over to the wall where Vlad was written in kanji, his heels clicking sharply on the wooden floor. “Urado is still here. Inside this house. And he’s far from being finished with his sacrifices.”

* * *

[Day 6]

The next morning, we armed ourselves with pick axes and flashlights before heading down to the dark room right outside of the are where the extra space and chimney were supposed to lead to. We spent the next hour just hacking away at the wall in order to make a big enough hole for us to walk through. Monk, John and I were mainly the ones doing the work, with Lin helping out every now and then and the others watching and holding up flashlights.

Finally, the wall gave way after one last large swing by me, and about half the wall came down. I grinned slightly at my work before stepping back and gesturing for Naru to come forwards. He steps up to the opening and peers inside for a moment. “Let’s head in.” he orders, stepping over the threshold. I was quick to follow, eager to see what we could find in this new area.

I regretted my eagerness as soon as the smell of the room hit me. The others seemed to be in the same boat. “What is that smell” Monk groans, covering his nose with his shirt. I breath in deeply, registering every little particle in the air that makes up the scent. It’s a scent that I had come to know intimately well – almost as well as the smell of blood.

It was the smell of a rotting corpse. But the others didn’t know that yet.

“There’s a door.” Naru says as he shines a light over to the far end of the room. It was a small wooden thing, one with the big golden knob. Or I imagine that it would be gold if it wasn’t so covered in dust and grime. Naru reaches for it and swings open the door only to be confronted with a face full of brick. The entire thing had been completely bricked up. “It’s blocked.” The touch of surprise was subtle, but it was there. He hadn’t been expecting this much blockage then.

Monk shines his light up around the other walls, illuminating the windows that were also completely bricked up. “It’s blocked in over on this side too.” We all look around, trying to see if there was some other hidden way in when we were startled by a shocked yelp from John.

He was standing over with Lin by the fire place that lead to the 12th chimney. They had opened up the grate and Lin was shining his light down into the darkness. They were frozen still, the only movement in the duo being a slight trembling. That wasn’t a good sign.

I jog over to them, peering over John’s shoulder to see what they were staring at that caused them to react like this. “What did you find?” I ask curiously, doing my best to see. John still hadn’t moved, and that caused a slightly block, but eventually I got past him.

There laying in the fire pit was a bundle of what must have once been white fabric. It was soaked completely through with blood in some places, and it was wrapped haphazardly around a lumpy bloody thing. The poor wrapping was open enough to reveal an arm and from the head up of the corpse. It wasn’t exactly a pretty sight – what with the two months worth of decomposition as well as the gruesome injuries. It looked like the body had been hacked apart with an axe in certain places, and the neck (well what was left of the neck) was completely slashed open.

I turn to look at the others, silently taking in the fact that they had all frozen behind me, their eyes wide with horror. This was their first time seeing a body – I always forget that people react like this. It all seems so normal to me now. Death is a fact of life. I just forgot that murder wasn’t a part of everyone else’s life too.

Masako begins to sob softly in the background, curling into an equally teary-eyed Ayako.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Monk runs from the room, dropping his pick axe and fleeing to find the nearest bathroom before he spews his breakfast all over the floor.

* * *

“It’s most likely the body of one of the people who disappeared two months ago.” Naru explained to the gathered people in our base.

“That’s awful!” Ohashi cried, looking absolutely distraught that we’d found a body during our investigation. “Please excuse me, I need to contact the prime minister.” He quickly ran from the room, looking very troubled and very panicked.

But Naru wasn’t done with delivering his grim news to the others seated around the table where our research all lay in neat stacks on the centre of the table. “With the discovery of this body, there’s little hope that we’ll find any of the others still alive.”

“Are you saying that… Suzuki is probably dead?” Ms. Igurashi gasped in horror, her hands flying up to cover her mouth and her eyes watering.

“Yes.” Naru doesn’t mention the fact that we know for certain that Naoko is dead because of our summoning. “And the same goes for Atsuki.”

Ms. Igurashi, however, is still trying to hold onto some kind of hope. “But wait, if the body is from someone who went missing over two months ago, couldn’t she have just gotten lost?” The desperation in her voice was depressing. The woman was in clear denial. Even if she had gotten lost, she would have died from dehydration a bit ago.

“The room was completely sealed off from the outside.” Naru continued to deliver his cold, almost clinical report. “Unless human beings have adapted the ability to pass through walls, I can only guess that they were taken there through a rip in the space time continuum. Have you any idea how much power it would take to accomplish that?” Naru stared dispassionately at the distraught woman across the table from him. He wasn’t pulling any punches here.

Minami stood up abruptly, looking rather angry. “Look, I’m leaving. This is too much! My own life is in danger.” And you know, your assistant was fucking murdered, _sir._ The Davis imposter quickly stood up and moved to follow Minami out of the room.

I took a step forwards, glaring hard at the man that was so fucking selfish that he was just going to leave. “Aren’t you going to help us search for Atsuki?”

He glared over his shoulder at me. “He’s probably dead.”

“Please sir, I am begging you! You have got to help us find her!” Ms. Igurashi pleaded, completely bypassing Minami and latching onto the Davis imposter and sobbing all over the poor man. “Dr. Davis, please! I’m desperate.” The man playing Dr. Davis looked positively wrecked by the woman’s desperation.

“I can’t do this! I’m not who you think I am!” he yells, wrenching his hand out of the woman’s grasp and turning to point at Minami. “It was all his idea.”

Naru simply smirked, a deep look of satisfaction in his eyes as he watched Minami flounder. “What? That’s ridiculous.” He stuttered.

The Davis imposter turned to face the rest of us. “I’m not Dr. Davis. My name is really Raymond Wall. This man is fooling all of you.” He jabs his finger in Minami’s face again.

I don’t bother to hide my smirk like Naru. “You should be ashamed of yourselves.” I purr, laughing in my head as Monk droops behind us.

“I’m sorry but I do not want to be a part of this charade any longer. Now good day.” And then he storms out of the room, with Minami following behind him, frantic.

“Now hey, come back here! You’ve got some nerve embarrassing me like that…”

Ms. Igurashi collapses into her chair, looking very lost and very tired. Naru sees this too and leans forwards slightly. “I think it would be best if you left now ma’am. We are leaving as well.” Hold the fuck up. We are what now? Leaving? But we’d _just_ found a body. We’re in the home stretch now.

I voice my disbelief. “What? We’re going to leave? How come?” We were so damn close.

“Because,” he turns to look at me. “Exorcism is impossible.”


	20. File 6 - Part 4

[April]

[Day 6]

“What do you mean? How can an exorcism be impossible?” I demand, staring Naru down. This didn’t sit right with me. I was a selfish son of a bitch on a good day, but there was something here and we were in a position to stop it. Over the years people’s righteousness had somewhat rubbed off on me, so of fucking course I want to deal with the piece of shit possessing this house.

“Urado isn’t here because of an obsession with satisfying a grudge. He just wants to extend his life.” Naru countered, presenting the facts that he knows. “I have no idea how he brings people through walls, but I do know that he hunts because he’s in search of prey. Calling him a ghost is no longer accurate. Imp, demon, devil; he’s turned into a monster. I know how to hunt ghosts, but monsters lay in a different realm in which I’m not skilled. That’s why an exorcism is off the table. Unless someone here knows a sure-fire way to hunt a monster safely…” he trailed off, looking around the room.

I take a deep breath before facing Naru. “I do. No hunt is ever completely safe, but I can take this thing out.” I say confidently, crossing my arms over my chest and smirking to hide my slight nerves. Here we go again, but I can’t really help it this time. I don’t like the idea of leaving Urado here. “You left the Jikininki case all those years ago, and I said that my brother took over that case, but I was the one who ended up killing the demon. I’m not as helpless as you were all lead to believe. John knows this, and I’m thinking that Naru at the very least suspects that I have some secrets.”

I turn to look at the others in the room, sticking out my chin slightly. “I’m not as helpless as you’ve all been lead to believe. The truth is, I am not completely new to the paranormal world.” I confess, meeting everyone’s surprised eyes. “I have been hunting demons since I was 13, and I’m a Vatican certified exorcist. I have a unique skillset, that while it isn’t the most effective with ghosts or spirits, packs quite the punch against humans and any other creature. This might not be a demon of Gehenna, but it can burn like every other demon.”

Naru looked at me carefully, accepting the fact that I had chosen to reveal a part of my secret that he had yet to find out. I had not been perfectly honest with him, but the others still didn’t know about either of our family histories, so I think that we’re still even at this point.

Naru sighed heavily. “The actual reason that Madoka hired us to come here was to sort out the rumour that the Minami Psychic Research Council was pedalling around someone claiming to be Oliver Davis. If you take that into account, our job is done. All the same, I don’t like leaving this anymore than you do. Do you agree to taking over the case?” he asked me seriously, meeting my eyes. The other silent question plain as day. _Can you do this? Can you get rid of the demon – and are you willing to possibly reveal yourself?_

I was. It surprised me, but I really was.

The others gasped in shock at Naru willingly giving up the command to someone that he called ‘assistant’. “Are you sure about this Karma? Urado is going to be very different from the demons of Gehenna.” John points out, looking at me carefully. He knew who my brother was, and he wasn’t underestimating my ability to handle demons, but he was being cautious. The others looked at him like he was crazy.

“You can’t be serious, John, Naru!” Ayako yelled scandalized. “Karma is only 17! This demon has murdered who knows how many people has killed, and you want to send him in to ‘take it out’?! That’s crazy.”

I glare at her, causing her to take a slight step back at my ferocity. “Demon hunting was my original career path before I had an… accident. I know what I can handle, and Urado seems to have evolved into something similar to a Jikininki – of which I _have_ hunted. A Jikininki is a spirit that was so monstrous that it made the change and transformed into a demon over time. Like any other demon of its kind, it can be killed with fire. I have fire.”

Monk shook his head in disbelief. “Karma… this is big. You could die, and killing things…” I sighed heavily before stalking over to my room and grabbing my bag. I dumped it on the table and pulled out Kurikara, unsheathing the blade and swinging it expertly.

“Ignis,” I whisper, and the blade is suddenly coated in royal blue flames by my will. “It is spelled,” I explain, leaving out the fact that the fire is actually my own (I saw the slight flinch that John made – if I wasn’t careful, he’d connect the dots, but he should believe this – the others didn’t seem to know though). “At my command, the fire moves. This can kill demons. It has before.”

The others still looked apprehensive, but Naru and Lin exchanged a contemplative glance. “Then you’ll be taking point from now on.” And then Naru stood up from the table before moving to stand to my left, Lin moving a bit closer to my right to flank me. Huh. This felt familiar. I nodded sharply before turning to both the others and Ms. Igurashi.

“I would suggest that you leave ma’am. It isn’t safe here.” I tell her bluntly, ignoring her reaction to my orders in favour of looking over the others. “Pack up your stuff and the equipment. If this goes south we don’t want to have to come back in here to get things, so I won’t openly challenge Urado until we’re set to go.” Although apprehensive, the others agreed.

* * *

Luckily for us, taking down and packing away equipment took much less time than setting it up did, and soon enough all we had to do was shove our own bags into the van and we were set to go. I was just sitting in the girl’s room as Ayako finished dumping her stuff in the back of Monk’s car so that Masako wouldn’t be alone. It was more important than ever that we not be alone now.

“What’s wrong, Masako?” I asked as she packed her things into a case.

“Nothing.” She said stiffly, turning her head away from me. “I’d just prefer that someone like you not call me by my first name.”

Oh. So we were doing this now. “And what do you mean by someone ‘like me’?” I said, my voice suddenly lowering dangerously. “Why do you hate me so much?” If she had found out, this could be very bad. She remained silent. “Are you going to answer me?” I demand, stopping in my own packing and turning to glare at her.

“Why…” she murmurs, a blush coating her cheeks. “Why is it that you’re the only one that Naru calls by their first name?” she whispered. “He always calls everyone else by their last names, but for some strange reason, he gives _you_ special treatment.”

I laughed, “you really believe that?”

“I saw you two strategizing earlier. The way you worked together… it was like you were married.” She whispered, still refusing to look at me. Inwardly, I was freaking out and blushing, outwardly, I just sneered.

“Am I detecting a hint of jealousy?”

“I’m not jealous of _you._ ”

I plop down on the bed and lean on my forearms so that she was forced to me. “There’s nothing for you to be jealous about. Everyday Naru finds a new way to make me sound like a complete idiot, and to be perfectly honest, if there’s anyone who he gives special treatment to, it’s you.” I try to reassure her.

She looked up at me with wide eyes. “You really think so?”

I nod, “yep! You’ve got some dirt on Naru, haven’t you.” I joke, but then she looks down and away, her posture taking on one of guilt.

“Yes, I do. But I really wish I didn’t.” she confessed. At my quizzical facial expression, she begins to explain. “We all know that Naru has a great deal of pride, so even the thought of someone having the upper hand on him upsets him. And that’s why I believe Naru doesn’t like me.”

I narrow my eyes at her. She knows that he’s Oliver Davis. There’s no other explanation. “Even if that’s true, there’s no reason to believe that he doesn’t like you.” I say carefully, but it would appear that Masako has had too much emotions for today, since she had got up from the bed and made her way over to the door. “Masako, you can’t go by yourself. I’ll come to.” I stood up just as she made it to the door. She simply opened it and walked out.

“That won’t be necessary. I don’t want to be around you.”

But there was a demon on the loose and while I may not like Masako, I wasn’t just going to let her die. I’d done a lot more for people that I liked a lot less. I wrenched open the door only to see an empty hallway. No Masako. Fuck. Those things moved fast.

I curse loudly before running over to the base. “The timeline of our plan has been moved up. We need to go, _now._ ” I call as I storm back into base with my sword slung over my shoulder. “Masako’s gone missing.” The others were all already waiting in the base ready to go hunt this thing with me, so it was a simple matter of grabbing the pick axes and making our way to the room where we found the body. Yasu and Madoka had gotten the message that I sent, and they came along with us.

* * *

It didn’t take us long to figure out that Masako wasn’t in that hidden space. And so, we went around the entire house to search for where she could possibly be. Eventually we found ourselves breaking through walls near the centre of the house. It was directly under the chimney, and with no visible way in and no sign of Masako anywhere else, the only thing that we could do was try and break through the wall.

It was an older part of the house, so there were no electrical systems which made it decently safe to be trying to break through. All the same, it was incredibly dark and the only light source that we had at the very heart of the house was some torches. They were battery run, so who knows how long they’ll last, especially with the paranormal phenomena occurring.

As the current leader of the investigation, I had Lin, and Monk start going at the walls with the pick axes we found. We didn’t know what material it was made of, but there was one thing that we knew for certain; Masako was somewhere behind those walls.

That’s when my legs gave out under me and I fell to the floor.

* * *

_I woke up to find myself floating inside a weird black and white version of the mansion, completely surrounded by spirits. The sheer number was astounding, reminding me a lot of Rokuryo High School. I look around frantically, trying to find something, anything that could help us find out where Masako was being held._

_“Gene!” I yelled, as soon as I saw him floating about 20 yards away. He was smiling softly, although his eyes looked a bit sad. “Have you seen Masako anywhere?” I didn’t have any time to spare with this dream. We needed to find Masako as soon as possible, and then I was going to burn that demon to death. Gene nodded, not saying a word and simply pointed over to a floating metal door. It was the same one from my other dream – the one about the tiled room._

_I steeled myself quickly before walking towards the door. The feeling of anxiety was back, but I had to go in there to make sure that Masako was still alive. I opened it to find that I was in the tiled room, but unlike in the dream, it was perfectly clean. There was no sign of blood anywhere. That was a good sign. Then I spotted Masako curled up in the corner of the room._

_I immediately rush over to her. “Masako! Are you okay?”_

_She looks up sharply, her eyes wide with disbelief as she takes in my form, katana and all. “Karma…” she trailed off before looking down softly. “Naru was just here. He was right there, comforting me,” she murmurs, pointing weakly to a spot right beside me. Gene had visited her, and she’d mistaken him for Naru. Well, at least he helped her, right? “You should have seen him smiling, he was so handsome. He told me that I was going to be okay. Isn’t that strange?”_

_I shook my head. “Not at all.”_

_She smiles weakly at me before beginning to cry softly, the situation she was in dawning on her again. “This is all a bad dream, right? I just went through the most frightening experience of my life. I couldn’t figure out if I was alive or dead.”_

_“You’re still alive, Masako. You gotta believe me!” I insist. I reach up and pull the leather cord from around my neck, holding it up so that the light could catch on the crystal of the demon protection charm. “Here, hold onto this for me.”_

_She grabs the necklace and holds it delicately. “What’s this?” she asked, a small tremor in her voice._

_“It’s a protection charm that someone made for me as thanks for me helping them out. That was back when I was studying to be an exorcist, before my accident. I’ve used it as my good luck charm ever since.” I tell her quietly, reaching forwards and wrapping her fingers around the charm. “It’s a lot easier to believe in something when you’re holding onto a piece of reality. You’re very much alive, Masako, and you’re not dreaming. Can you feel the charm? You wouldn’t be able to if this weren’t real.”_

_She continued to cry softly, but she didn’t stop clutching the charm either, so that was good. “I want you to wait here and believe. We’re coming for you.”_

_She looks up at me teary eyed. “Hurry back. Please, Karma.”_

_“Please, Karma.”_

* * *

I came to, lying on the ground with my head pillowed in someone’s lap, the sounds of walls being hacked at encouraging me to wake up. “Are you okay? You just collapsed,” a now very familiar deep voice said from above me. I sat up slowly, leaning heavily on Naru as I regained my bearings. Lin, Monk, Yasu and John were over by the wall, hacking their way through it, and Ayako and Madoka were standing near Naru and I.

“I had a dream,” I grunted, catching everyone else’s attention. “Masako was in it, and she’s alive. She was safe.”

Monk rested his pick axe on his shoulder and turned to look at me. “Really?” Dare I say it; he looked almost hopeful.

I nod simply before heaving myself up into a standing position, gripping my katana tightly. “Yeah, and I made her a promise, that we’d save her.” And then I walked through the irregulars until I was standing in front of the wall that had been broken through to reveal a layer of brick. “Well this is going to suck,” I grumbled before rearing back and roundhouse kicking the wall. The old brick crumbled just like I expected it to, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt like a bitch. “Fuck!” I screeched and shook my foot, very thankful for the steel bottoms that I had put into the sole.

Behind the door, there’s a set of metal doors with a chain wrapped around the handle. As I hopped away, Monk was quick to break the chain and lock, and Naru and Lin moved to throw open the doors. The room that we had broken into was just as dusty as the other hidden area, but this time, it wasn’t empty. It was filled with broken furniture along the sides of the room, and some of the walls were broken as well. There was a rotting staircase in the corner and Yasu shone his torch over there. “See how the stairs run into the ceiling? I think that’s the first floor above it.” Yasu whispered, fanning out along with the others.

“I’m beginning to think that this was the main building that Kaneyuki lived in.” Naru grumbled as he looked around with narrow eyes.

Monk turned back to look at me, his eyes hardened as he too, looked around. “Does it look like what you saw in your dream?”

I took a good look around, suddenly recognizing where I was standing. “There was a fireplace and some kind of closet in here.” I answer, moving through the room, testing my weight on the foot that I kicked with and making sure that I could put my weight on it after kicking down a brick wall. Sure enough, as soon as I flicked on my flashlight, I was able to see the old fireplace with the chair and small table. It looked exactly like the room from my dream. I moved the light over a couple feet, and there were the doors to the closet. “There should be a corridor inside that closet.”

Naru walked forwards and pulled open the doors, revealing the aforementioned stone corridor. We silently walked down the hallway, very conscious of the fact that every step echoed. “There should be a hedge maze just up ahead.”

We continued to walk for another minute or so before Naru’s flashlight flickered. The other flashlights held firm, but Naru’s continued to shorten out. Without saying another word, I unsheathed Kurikara and ignited it, bathing the surrounding area in a dancing blue light.

We arrived at the end of the hall to see that the hedge maze had died and left behind the bare skeletons of the trees. “I’m guessing that was the hedge maze,” Ayako sneered, stalking forwards.

“There’s another door.” Monk called, shining the light of his flashlight at what looked to be a porch of a smaller house. It looked like some shit straight from a Resident Evil movie. I really didn’t want to go in there, but that’s where the dream men had taken me, so that had to be where they took Masako.

Meanwhile Naru was just fascinated with the architecture. “It makes sense now. The floor was elevated in the centre area to keep this place covered up.” We walked through the doors that Monk had pointed out and came to what looked like the interior of a normal house. An abandoned house, but a house all the same.

I look around and my eyes land on a set of stairs in the wall. She’s up there. I know she is.

Without thinking, I ran towards the stairs – I needed to get to her and kill that demon before she was killed. Every second we wasted exploring this cursed place was another second where Masako could be killed. When I got rid of that demon, we could look around.

“Karma! Wait!” But I was already on the second floor and running down the hallways. I turned one last corner, and there it was. The metal door was sitting there and waiting for me. Behind it, was Masako – and the tiled room. I dropped my flashlight, watching as the beam highlighted the rusty metal of the door. I extinguished the flame on the sword, instead choosing to trust my eyes for now. I didn’t want to tip Urado off right away if I can help it.

I slowly moved forwards, treating this as if it were a hit and not making any sound as I opened the old door. I shiver slightly as I look around the dark room and see that Masako was curled up in the corner right where I left her. “Masako, are you alright.” I whispered in relief, rushing over to her.

“Yes,” she whispered, a stunned look on her face as she stood up, squinting in the darkness. “You… came to rescue me.” I nodded even thought I knew that she couldn’t see it.

“It’s time to get you out of here. I’ll come back for the demon, right now my priority is you.” I whisper, helping her stand and navigate in the dark room, but she still managed to slip. I only stopped it by grabbing onto the table in the middle of the room myself.

The table was wet.

I slowly moved my head to look, and sure enough, it was covered in blood. The foul metal smell invaded my senses and I urged Masako to continue moving. Hopefully she hadn’t noticed. “Karma… blood.” Well that ship has sailed. I move the katana in front of me and slowly the blue flames climb up the blade, painting the room with a blue light. It revealed the blood dripping down the table. That looked like it was from an entire person. Wow.

I shifted the sword over, casting the light over towards the bathtub across the room. It was filled with blood. Masako clutched onto my shoulder as even from across the room and in the low light, we could see the blood ripple. From the depths of the congealing liquid a head rose, quickly followed by the rest of the gangly creature. It looked remarkably similar to the Jikininki – but way less gruesome. This thing still looked vaguely human as it stared at me with its bulging eyes. It was dripping with blood, but that was no surprise.

_I don’t want to die_.

Its voice rasped, echoing through my head. Masako shivered behind me in fright, and I extended my arm to further shield her. “We need to run.” I whispered, “when I say ‘run’ you get the fuck out of here. I can handle Urado.”

_I don’t want to die._

Urado grinned at me, its skeletal fingers gripping the edge of the bathtub as it began to heave itself out of the blood. I crouched forming half of the seal that Monk had shown me because my other hand was holding Kurikara in front of me. “Namaku san man dan bazara san kan. Namaku san man dan bazara san kan.” I hiss. Moving the seal, I proceed to go into the nine cuts. “Rin, pyo, toh, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen!”

_I don’t want to die!”_

It shrieked before the blood was blasted from it and it fell backwards into the tub of blood with a splash. “Run!” I yelled to Masako, shoving her towards the door and standing my ground by the wall. Just as Masako makes it out of the door, I’m flung back against the wall and glowing purple hands grab onto my arms and keep hold of me so that I can’t leave the wall.

I shriek briefly as my tail is pinched, and I know that the others heard the pained exclamation. Fuck that hurt though. I snarl and struggle in their grip, Kurikara clanging as it fell to the ground. I briefly entertain the idea of setting myself on fire, but I was going to hold off until the last resort.

For now, I could cycle through some fatal verses and hope that one of them works. The mantras that Ayako and Monk had taught me had done their job, but now it was time for some verses that worked on demons. “Evil is int heir hears, ‘Oh Lord, give them according to their works, and according to the wickedness of their endeavors, Give them after the work of their hands, render onto them to their reward. Thou shalt destroy them and shall not build them up. Blessed be the Lord. The Lord is my helper, and my protector Thou shalt perish!” I snarl, lurching forwards as the hands vanish. I scoop up my sword and watch wearily as in the silence bloody footprints begin to appear across the floor.

The squelch of the blood makes its way towards me, but there is no creature to go with the foot prints. I wait with a baited breath, softly beginning to mumble another fatal verse for ghoul type demons as the footsteps continue to approach. “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

With a hiss of air (it sounded like a tank of gas with a puncture in the side) eyes appeared out of the darkness right in front of me. With it, the rest of Urado melted into existence not even two inches away from me. It was grinning and drooling as it stared at me hungrily. It didn’t even know just who it had crossed. 

Without hesitating, I swing the katana and took Urado’s head clean off and whirl back to stab the corpse in the chest before it too falls to the floor. Despite being a demon corpse thing, it still apparently bleeds because I was showered in some foul warm liquid. I bring up a hand to wipe off some of it from my face when footsteps come thumping towards the door and a flashlight shines over the carnage that I’d just caused.

“Karma!” Naru yells before stopping just over the threshold when he sees the bloody mess and the corpse on the ground in front of me. He pauses for a second in shock before shaking his head. “Are you okay? We heard you yell.” He barked, moving forwards slightly.

I spit on Urado before lighting my hand on fire and launching the fire at the corpse. It’s a tiled room, so I doubt the fire will spread, but I’m planning on staying here until there is nothing left of the corpse. “I’m fine,” I grunt, hunched over slightly. My tail was definitely pinched and if one of the vertebrae wasn’t broken, I’d be surprised. “On abokya beiroshanō makabodara mani handoma jimbara harabaritaya un,” I chant as the flames burn Urado into nothing more than a scorch mark on the ground.

* * *

[Day 7]

I groan as the fight drain out of me and the pain in my tail (why did demons have to have such a strong weakness? It didn’t help that I was pretty low on energy now anyways – and I didn’t want to eat a lemon candy because I’m literally covered in demon blood). The fire on my blade goes out, leaving the only light source in the room the torch that Naru was holding. I tipped sideways, and in a flash, Naru was there wrapping an arm around my shoulder, hauling my arm over his so that he could better support my weight.

“Are you okay to move?”

I nod slowly, hoisting myself up and gathering my wits about me. “I’ll be fine. We need to explore the rest of this house. We still haven’t found Suzuki or Atsuki.” I gasp weakly, surprised at how drained I felt. “Is Masako okay?” I ask as Naru helps move me out of the tile room and down the hall over to the others.

He nods, “she came to find us shortly before you screamed. They’re all waiting in the hallway.” He tells me softly, careful not to let his arm fall too low lest he touch my possibly broken tail. Monk and Lin were standing in front of an open door while Madoka and Ayako crowded around a still visibly shaken Masako. John was whispering quietly with a slightly panicked Yasu.

They all brightened up as soon as they saw the two of us, only flinching a little when they saw the blood-like substance that I was covered in. “I’m fine,” I say unconvincingly. “I just got slammed a little harder into a wall than I would have liked. Urado’s dead and gone.” The others let out an audible sigh of relief. They must not have sensed it – even the air feels a bit cleaner, despite the scent of blood still being very present in the air.

Naru hoists me a bit higher. “What’s in the room?” he jerks his chin over to gesture to the room that Lin and Monk were guarding. Lin’s face didn’t change, but Monk’s got this pinched look.

“I think you better see for yourselves.” He said seriously, before stepping aside so that Naru and I could make our ways over to the opening. I saw why he said we needed to see it for ourselves almost immediately. In the far corner there was a stack of bloody rolled sheets. In those sheets were very clearly the bodies of all the missing people, seeing as they were exposed from their necks up. Atsuki and Suzuki lay at the top, their throats slashed and their mouths slack. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Over on the wall there were shelves completely filled with skulls sitting on top of groups of bones. They were displayed like fucking trophies. It looks like after their blood was drained their flesh was burned off in some sort of incinerator so that their bones could be displayed on the wall. There was no way that a single person caused this much carnage – especially someone as frail as Kaneyuki was supposed to be. This wasn’t going to be fun to call in to the police. We would have to lead them in here too.

Naru gently lead us from the room and turned to the others. “Hiroyuki tried to conceal it, I think that’s obvious now.” He says somberly, slowly maneuvering me over to the stairs. My eyes were drooping, and I wanted nothing more than to take a long ass shower and get rid of whatever the fuck was on me right now. Unfortunately, I’d also managed to cover Naru in it as well, but I’ll blame it on the fact that he chose to basically carry me. He could have just let me stumble on my own.

Fortunately though, I wasn’t anywhere near as injured as I had been with the Jikininki, but that didn’t change the fact that I was fucking exhausted. I love adrenaline crashes.

* * *

I was gingerly laying on my side on the couch in our former base after taking a shower while Naru called Mr. Ohashi to tell him that we found the rest of the bodies and a lot more. I was no longer covered in blood and bundled in one of Naru’s large shirts so as to better conceal my injured tail. As soon as we’d gotten to the base, he’d rushed me into the washroom and gotten a look at my tail.

It turns out that I hadn’t broken the bones, but it had been a close thing. There were some hairline fractures and severe bruising though, so he wrapped the small section of my tail and sent me to shower while he got me some clean clothes. He must have only stopped at his bag (he was covered in blood too thanks to me) because he simply passed me a pair of sweatpants, a black tank top, and one of his black button ups. I was so tired I didn’t question it.

I didn’t want to wrap my tail too tightly around my torso, so the large shirt worked well with hiding it, and the sweats (his pyjamas???) were comfortable. I was no longer in my blood-soaked clothes and that was enough for me.

I still couldn’t lie down properly though, even though I was exhausted. And as such, I was slumped on my side and waiting for us to be able to leave. It was early morning now – it was easy to lose time in this house – and I was about ready to crash. I didn’t even have the energy to eat the snacks that Naru offered me, instead lazily sucking on a lemon candy.

The others were milling around the room looking anxious, and Masako took this time to approach me. She carefully sat on the chair beside the couch and held out her hand, the demon charm nestled in her palm. “Thank you for this,” she said, urging me to take back my necklace. My eyes went slightly wide as I snatched the thing back and stared at it for a moment. Yeah, I had given it to her when I was astral projecting, but I didn’t think that I had actually _given_ it to her, you know? “What? I thought I gave this to you in my dream…” I say in shock.

“Retro-cognition, clairvoyance, and now astral projection?” Monk gasped in disbelief, staring at the two of us. “You’re building up quite a resume, and that’s not even counting the demon exorcist thing you already have!” Monk joked, casually throwing in the big secret that I’d revealed and subtly letting me know that there were no hard feelings. None of the others wore anything on their faces other than soft smiles now, so I knew that they felt the same.

That was… nice. It was nice to know that they didn’t hate me for keeping my secrets.

Unconditional acceptance. Maybe I _could_ find it in more people than just Class E.

“Speaking of talent, it looks like you have some too!” Monk said, looking over at Lin who was leaning against the wall behind my couch. “It looked like you threw something white earlier when those two henchmen spirits tried to attack us.” Uh oh, when did that happen?

He cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, those were just my Shiki.”

Monk was quick to explain to the rest of the room who looked a bit confused. “When you make a demon or spirit you’ve captured work for you it’s called Ekkiki. Each spirit you use is called a Shiki.” Huh, that’s some pretty useful information. I’d have to remember to ask about that.

“So, is it like when you make a deal with a Kappa?” I ask curiously, twisting slightly to look up at Lin. He looks a bit shocked but otherwise unphased.

“Yes, it is similar. Although I have to wonder how you came into contact with a Kappa – let alone got one to serve you.” I grin, he knows me so well already.

The others eagerly voice their wish to hear stories about the different demons that I’ve exorcised, and being the people pleaser that I am, I proceeded to regale them with stories from my True Cross Academy days.

* * *

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing.” Mr. Ohashi sighed as he saw us out of the mansion shortly after we lead the police to where we found the bodies.

Yasu smiled at the man, still playing boss up until the last second. “We were able to exorcise the house and destroy Urado, but that does not mean that all the spirits that were trapped here are gone now that the main danger is. I would suggest leaving the house to rot over time, like Hiroyuki said in his dying words. Another option would be to purify it by fire, like my assistant did with Urado. Burn the entire house down, and you will wash away the offence.”

Mr. Ohashi closed his eyes and his expression tightened for a moment before smoothing over. “I understand. Thank you all so much for helping.” He bowed deeply to all of us before turning to walk back into the mansion to talk with the police again.

And with that, we left the Miama mansion behind.

Forever.

* * *

A few weeks later there was an article in the paper about a huge fire destroying the house. Considering the bizarre facts of our case, the article was far too short.

* * *

[A Few Days Later…]

“So, you’re leaving already?” I ask curiously as I set down a teacup in front of the pink haired woman that had arrived in a whirlwind a little over a week ago.

“Unfortunately, I am, which is too bad because I was just starting to get to know everyone.” Madoka took a deep sip from her tea cup before turning to wiggle her eyebrows at me. “Since I’ve got you all to myself, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

I raise an eyebrow but gesture for her to continue. “Do you know?” She asked suddenly, looking at me over the rim of her teacup. I nod slowly. She lets out a breath and leans back into her seat. “I assume that you won’t tell anyone about this until Naru gives the okay.”

I roll my eyes. “Of course. He respects my secrets so I’m respecting his.” I leave it at that, grinning as I see the curiosity burning in her eyes. “I’m helping him with Gene too. I have avenues I can check that he can’t.”

“Speaking of your relationship with Naru, don’t think I didn’t see that blush you had when Naru gave you his clothes to wear earlier.” Madoka grinned. “And I saw him practically carry you upstairs and worry about you eating.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “There’s nothing going on, Madoka. I don’t like to make a habit of crushing on straight guys. It usually doesn’t end well for me.” I stood up, gathering the cups and moving towards the sink to wash them.

“He’s not straight, you know. That’s why he turns down all of the girls.”

I raised an eyebrow at her and she sheepishly continues. “Well that and they’re too stupid for him.” But then she gets a serious look on her face. “But he cares about you, like really cares for you. I haven’t seen him show this much concern for someone other than Gene. You’re good for him in more ways than you can ever know.” I scoff. Please, I’m not _good_ for anyone.

(Although I do wish that what Madoka is saying was true.)

“I don’t know if your feelings are all that unrequited.”


	21. File 7 - Part 1

[A Few Days Ago]

Naru hadn’t taken a client until about 2 months after the Urado case. And of course, the first person (people?) that he agreed to see in person, was someone with an incredibly fucked up case.

A young man sat next to a small girl, looking incredibly solemn. “My name is Yoshimi Akifumi, and this is my niece Hazuki.” He introduced, looking down at the sad girl next to him. She was clutching onto the man’s shirt. “She’s the one I was telling you about. Take a look at this.” He reached over to unfasten the white ribbon that was wrapped around the young girl’s neck to reveal that there were severe ligature marks around her neck.

I was surprised that the bruising had even been hidden by the white ribbon.

“At first this was all we saw. We assumed that it was some kind of rash and took her to the hospital,” He explained. Oh, honey no. Any nurse worth their salt would know that that was not a rash. It was very obviously ligature marks. But then he turned the girl around and undid the back of her dress. “But…”

Along her spine was what looked almost like brand marks. It was kanji – and it read as a curse. “Oh my god!” Monk gasped as he stared at the markings on the small child’s back.

“A Kaimyo…” Ayako gasped in horror.

Monk leaned forwards and began to read the kanji out loud, for Naru’s benefit. “Zengesen rakoku don yo. This foolish child is doomed to spend an eternity in hell…” he trailed off awkwardly, suddenly realizing that it might not have been such a good idea to read it out loud. “Only someone with a serious grudge would do this.”

And thus, we begun one of our shittiest cases.

* * *

[July]

[Day 1]

Surprisingly, the location of the case was beautiful. It was a long ass drive out, but the scenery more than made up for the long drive stuck in the back of Lin’s van next to the equipment. (The others had driven over in Monk’s car – only the three official SPR members fitting in the van considering all the equipment that we were bringing.) The inn was built up on the top of a large cliff, right next to what looked like an old shrine. The water was clear with some large rock spires sticking up out of the water proudly. There were large numbers of trees surrounding the property (we drive through an area that actually looked a lot like the forests from Spirited Away) and everything felt really… natural.

I don’t know why it felt so peaceful, but there just wasn’t the same feeling as the other cases we’ve been on. It didn’t feel demonic – but it was definitely closer to the feeling of that weird swamp house with that Chinese woman. The feeling of everything was supposed to be there, even if I couldn’t tell what was malevolent or not. Whatever was here had been here since the land had been formed.

We were welcomed into the Inn by the owners and the heads of the family. They ushered us into what looked to be a large dining room with an extended kotetsu. We all fell into place across the room, unconsciously forming a weird class photo-esque wall. The man and woman that had let us in, knelt down in front of us and bowed deeply. “My name is Yoshimi Taizo, and this is my wife, Hiroe.” The man said, gesturing to the woman beside him dressed in a deep purple kimono.

It fit the style of the inn and the surrounding area. Everything looked very old fashioned – it had a certain aesthetic that I can see being attractive to tourists. The woman smiled kindly at us, albeit a bit tiredly. “Thank you all so much for coming.”

“Welcome,” Taizo nodded, agreeing with his wife. “Let me just say that we are all very sorry for making you come out all this way.” The man also looked incredibly tired, very nearly entirely exhausted. It was weird… this was the first sign that something wasn’t quite right here. Well, other than the stuff that the client came to our office with.

Both my eyebrows slowly begin to crawl up my face. “Oh, don’t worry about it,” I say to reassure the man – totally not meaning it. Like… at all.

“It’s our pleasure,” Monk added, sounding much more convincing than I did.

“Now if you wouldn’t mind,” Naru cut in, staring down our clients. “I’d very much like to go over the details of the case.”

The old man looked almost sad. “Yes, of course.” He sighed heavily, looking down at his lap. “Well I’m afraid there’s a bit of a curse on the Yoshimi family. Whenever there’s a new head of the family, strange things seemed to happen.” He confessed.

Well that wasn’t something that they told us when they first brought us the case.

“Thirty-two years ago, my grandfather passed away, and eight family members soon followed. When he first took over the land, five of my mother’s siblings died. She was the only one who survived.” Hiroe began to explain to us. “Then my father died, and almost immediately, those horrifying marks showed up on Hazuki. If his spirit caused this… it’s like he wants to behead his own granddaughter from beyond the grave.”

I subconsciously reached up to grab my own throat – feeling the phantom pain from back when I was choked.

Poor kid.

* * *

That night, the Yoshimi family invited us to eat with them, and we gratefully agreed. The SPR team sat around one end of the long makeshift table, with Naru sitting at the head of the table, flanked by myself and Lin. The dinner was almost painfully awkward and silent, the only sound in the room being the clicking of chopsticks on ceramic and the sound of people chewing.

I was used to loud meals with lots of chaos, and this amount of order was making my tail twitch.

To alleviate that twitch, I decide to run through the information that I’ve gathered so far. There’s a lot of people here, and I don’t want to forget anything in my haste to dismiss the clients. So, there’s Hazuki’s father, Kazuyasu. He was an average sized man wearing an ill-fitting business suit with a standard haircut. Nothing special about him other than being the oldest son. Next to him and dressed much more casually, is the second oldest, Yasutaka. He was just as boring as his older brother.

Then there’s Ichirou – the husband of the oldest daughter Teruka. He was thin and gaunt, while she shared features similar to her mother. Kazuyasu’s wife Yoko was coming around the table with Sake bottles – the woman looking much brighter than any of the others in the house. She had plain brown hair and was wearing a dull orange jumper. The second oldest sister now, who’s just a bit older than her brother, Akifumi.

That’s when Ichirou slammed his glass down on the table, breaking the delicate and tense silence that had reigned over the room. “What are these people doing here anyways?” he demanded harshly, startling all the others at the table. “And why aren’t you telling them the whole story?”

His wife reached forwards in an attempt to appease the distressed man. “Please, not in front of the guests, Ichirou.” Um excuse me? What the fuck? We have a right to know what this ‘whole story’ is, thank you very much. I know that I’d very much like to hear what else they kept from us. This case was getting fishier and fishier the longer we were here.

“It’s for their own safety!” He argued, “it’s irresponsible not to tell them. The family members weren’t the only ones who died 32 years ago,” he spat, causing all the others around the table to look down sadly at their laps.

Naru looked up sharply, placing his chopsticks down on the rim of his bowl and looking up at the skinny man from under his dark bangs. “What do you mean?” he asked icily.

No one seemed to want to respond, and silence settled over the room once again. “I think we should tell them the whole story.” Taizo sighed, slumping in his seat. His wife whispered his name, and he somehow managed to look even more pitiful. “I know, these people are our last hope, and this might make them want to leave.”

“That’s true, but they have a right to know.” His wife agreed. “There’s more to the story. What we haven’t told you is that three people outside of the family died as well. All three of them were spiritualists, like you.”

The others gasped in shock before glancing around at each other. Naru just glared over at the clients. “I see.”

* * *

“Don’t worry, we’re not going to let that scare us off. Besides, I really want to see what we’re up against here.” Monk grinned weakly, not really looking like he believed his words, but he was committed nonetheless.

Akifumi smiled sadly from where he sat on his knees on a small mat. “Thank you so much. We’ve had other consultations with investigators, but when they found out the whole truth, they didn’t want any part of it.” He looked understanding – I mean, I guess? Most ‘ghost hunters’ didn’t like the idea of dying. Most people in general didn’t like the idea of dying. Especially when it’s getting into a situation with things beyond your control.

Ayako looked over at him slightly suspiciously. “That explains why you went all the way over to Tokyo.” She commented snidely. I shot her a look and turned back to Akifumi. 

“I’m sorry about what happened over dinner.” He continued, looking down and avoiding meeting the team’s eyes. “My brother Ichirou is not usually like that. Actually, I’ve never seen him behave that way before.”

Naru looked up, “hold on, you’re saying it’s unusual for him to behave so coarsely in front of the guests?”

Akifumi tilted his head to the side slightly in confusion as to why Naru seemed fixated on that. “Yeah… after all, we do run a hotel here.”

“What about Kazuyasu?”

“Kazuyasu’s been… well he’s been a bit on edge lately.” Akifumi admitted. “For that matter, so has Yashi. Since the funeral, they’ve both had a pretty hard time.”

I get up, moving over to sit on the arm of Naru’s chair, perching myself there. “I’m sure they had a lot on their minds.” I say diplomatically.

Naru casually raises his hand and I lean into the gesture. After the Urado case, Naru had been more confident in my abilities to protect myself, while simultaneously becoming more protective. I preened under the attention, but it also confused me. (Ugh I haven’t felt this dumb since that childhood crush I had on Garry). “What about anyone else? Or… has anything strange happened?” he continued to ask.

“Yeah there was something that was strange. After Grandfather’s funeral, 3 of our dogs suddenly went missing. And then three days later we found them – their bodies had washed up on the beach.” I stiffened slightly, and Naru’s hand tensed. “Yoko hasn’t been the same since then, I’m afraid. But if you want the truth about who’s been acting the most unusual, I’d have to say it was the children.” And shit that didn’t sound good at all. Fucking brats are always the ones getting fucking possessed.

“You mean Hazuki?” I butted in curiously. I didn’t like where this was going – first I don’t feel anything unnatural in the area (that means whatever’s here is _old_ and established) and now there’s children that are acting weird. Why is my life a shitty horror movie?

Akifumi shook his head. “Oh no, there’s two other children in the house besides Hazuki. Hazuki has a brother named Katsuki, and Teruka has a daughter named Wakiko. Katsuki and Wakiko have been acting very strange lately.”

“How so?”

“Well, it’s hard to say, but they’ve been sticking unusually close to each other. They were never really like this before. And on top of that, they’re constantly whispering things to each other. When we ask them what they’re talking about, all they do is just giggle and wink at us.”

Naru leaned forwards, intrigued, but also very worried. “Can you tell us how long they’ve been doing this?” (Internally I snickered at how much we looked like a mob boss and his… stop it brain. Now is not the time for shitty fantasies. We literally have a client right in front of us.)

“Yeah, I’d have to say it was right after Grandfather’s funeral.” And then he winced, knowing exactly what we were all thinking. It wasn’t looking good for the odds of the children not being possessed by _something_.

* * *

“Okay, so how’s this angle looking?” I grumble as I fix the camera on the tripod that I was setting up.

_“Good. Now come back.”_

I sigh, “right away, Boss.” I turn off the lights in the room and move out into the hallway, surprised at how dark it was. Visibility wasn’t the issue here for me, but the fact that it was so dark, was a little unsettling. When did the lights go out? No matter, the base is just a few doors down, and it’s not like I’m going to get attacked right now. And if I did, I could handle myself.

“Oh mister~!”

Annnnnnd I spoke (thought?) too soon. I turn around to look behind me, and sure enough, there’s the fucking kids that we’d heard were acting weird. “Oh mister~” the kid calls again, waving its arm like a noodle through the door.

I turn around to face them fully as they come out of their room, arm in arm and staring at me quizzically. “I suppose you must be Wakiko and Katsuki, yes? What are you kids doing up so late?” I don’t even bother to smile fakely at the duo. There was that off feeling that I’d been waiting for.

The two children turned to each other and stared at me with hooded eyes as they whispered to each other. “How many did you bring here?” Wakiko, or whatever was wearing Wakiko’s skin, asked curiously. “How many of you are there, _mister._ How many are there?” She was whispering in that effortlessly creepy way.

I leaned forwards slightly, balancing my weight on the balls of my feet and crouching slightly. “Well there’s only one of _my kind_ here. But there’s five members of SPR here to investigate. I’m sure you’ll meet everyone tomorrow.” I didn’t reveal anything that she wouldn’t have found out anyways, but all the same, I didn’t like how this interaction was going.

If the kids truly were possessed by something (it didn’t feel like a spirit – not like with the doll house of any of our other cases – but it also didn’t feel like something demonic either. I didn’t know what it was and that _scared_ me) then they would know what I meant by ‘my kind’ – these things always seemed to. But if they were just regular kids, they shouldn’t think too much of it.

Wakiko grinned and turned to Katsuki. “So, there’s five.”

“Not good.” He answered, both of them looking at me with an odd look of hunger.

“Trouble,” the girl hissed, agreeing with the boy. “Let’s go.”

I took a step forward. “Wait, hold on.”

Wakiko turned back to look at me, cocking her head to the side in that unnatural confused look that I usually did. “You said there were five.” What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

“Why do you need to know that, _little girl_?”

“That’s not something for you to worry about, mister.”

And then they disappeared down the hall, all the while giggling. Now I get why Akifumi had such a hard time talking about them. If the kids in your family started acting like little dick heads that were possessed, then you would probably want to ghost over that too. Oof, that was a pun.

There’s something very strange about those two.

I turn to continue back to base, attempting to put those two out of mind, when a fucking shriek echoed through the house. I ran towards it without thought, slamming open the door only to see a good three people in the family holding back a wildly possessed Ichirou while the others in the family stood defensively in the corner of the room. Ichirou had a knife in his hand and glowing red eyes.

I rush past a stunned Monk and Ayako over to the possessed man and knock the knife out of his hand with a well-placed roundhouse kick before lunging forwards and taking his wrists from the two struggling family members. They cried out in worry, but I slammed the struggling man into the wall and held him there without too much effort.

“Karma.” Naru called as soon as he entered the room, shooting me a look. I nod and jerk the hissing and snarling man so that I can get him in a headlock before quickly knocking him out. I lowered his limp body to the ground and Lin rushed over with rope so that we can secure him.

“Thank god, at least no one was seriously hurt,” Taizo sighed heavily as he sat down. “What in the hell came over him.”

His daughter shook her head, her voice wobbling as she began to explain. “I don’t know. I was just talking to him about what happened at dinner and then… he left. Not long after that he came back with a knife.”

Naru rounded the table and knelt down beside me and Lin, placing a hand on my shoulder and looking down at the unconscious man. “Could anything have put him in a bad mood before that? Something before dinner perhaps.”

Teruka shook her head frantically, ripping her hands from Ayako’s grip. “No, he was acting completely normal before this.”

Monk stared grimly down at Ichirou. “He sounded possessed.” No shit, his eyes were glowing red. I’m a demon and my eyes don’t even do that.

Naru sighed, “that could be. Looks like we’ll need to call John in for this. Either that or…” he turned to look at me and Ayako. “Do you think that either of you could handle this?”

Ayako frowned, “maybe, but wouldn’t Monk be better? Don’t you think so?” she asked in confusion.

“That’s probably not a good idea,” Monk shook his head. “If I did it, I’m not sure what would happen.”

“What do you mean by that, Monk?”

“There was this one time I was trying to drive a spirit out of an urn. I managed to get the spirit out, but the urn was completely shattered. All I’m saying is that this is pretty dangerous stuff. Dharma power is very risky, and when you’re trying to touch someone directly with it, anything can happen.”

Okay then. “Then I wouldn’t be able to do it either,” I cut in before Ayako can protest. “I exorcise demons by using their fatal verse. Emphasis on fatal – spirits aren’t my area of expertise. And I greatly suspect that if I were to call out to gods that I don’t believe in, they won’t respond.” Naru nodded with understanding and turned to look at Ayako.

Ayako for her part, was still hung up on Monk’s declaration and seemed to have placed my own declaration to the side for now (although various members of the family were now looking at me with various WTF faces). “Wait a minute, are you trying to tell us that you’ve never driven out a spirit before? Then how do you go around calling yourself a spiritualist?”

Monk sniffed. “You take care of them. I’m sure it’ll be safe since your power’s so weak.”

“What that supposed to mean?”

Naru sighed heavily and glared at both of them. “Well somebody needs to, can you do it?”

She flipped her hair, “fine, but if it takes over someone else, don’t blame me. I just know how to drive them out.”

“What matters most right now is that we drive this spirit from him. It seems particularly violent.”

Yeah, he fucking tried to murder someone. I’d say that that’s pretty damn violent.

* * *

It didn’t take us all that long to prepare for Ayako’s exorcism. We set up the room while Ayako got changed, and soon enough, the exorcism was underway. “I pray in reverence for thy spirit. I humbly ask for your holy presence in this unhallowed space and purify all who reside here.” Ayako began as the rest of us crowded around the door. Lin had a camera set up and was frantically doing things on his laptop while Naru, Monk, and I watched the exorcism.

Ichirou had woken up now, and he was snarling and spitting as he inched forwards. “I ask that you hear my pleas so that peace may reign once again in this house.”

I turn my head to Naru and whispered quietly. “Maybe Ayako isn’t up to this. It doesn’t feel like a normal spirit.”

“Perhaps she isn’t. Regardless, John will be here tomorrow.”

“…Bring together the gods of the four corners and make this place as peaceful as the heavens.” Ichirou was maybe only 4 feet from her now, and his eyes were beginning to glow. “Bring together the gods of the four corners, bring together the gods of the four corners.” Ayako continued to chant as this poisonous purple fire began to grow from the bound man.

“Just stay back, leave quietly.” Naru ordered suddenly, throwing his arm in front of me and glaring at the thing on the floor. “Lin, take care of Karma.” Lin immediately stood up without question and moved to herd me out of the room with his larger frame. Naru what the hell?!

I looked back to see that the fire had fully formed into a fox now – damn it. A kitsune. Ichirou is cackling madly as the kitsune growls above him. “Praise be to the goddess Marishten, descend and grant us your divine protection!” Ayako clammed her hands together and the kitsune launches itself over her head right at us. Since Naru was right in front of our group, it was heading right for him. He steadied his stance and glared at the spirit.

He must think that he can handle it.

“Naru!” I yelled, struggling in Lin’s hold. It would be disastrous if that thing got control of Naru, but I was aware enough to know that it would be even worse if the thing got control of me. All the same, I wanted to push him out of the way – my natural defenses were better equipped to handle a kitsune than he was.

“Don’t do it!” Lin called, still holding me back despite looking like he too wants to rush towards the black-haired teen. Before any of us could move however, the fox had already hit Naru and knocked him into a wall as it disappeared into his stomach. With numerous cries of his name, we all rushed towards him as soon as he hit the ground, coughing violently.

“Are you okay? Did it hurt you?” Monk said, kneeling by his side, and looking very panicked. I can honestly say that the sentiment was shared

“I’m fine,” he gasped weakly, leaning heavily against the wall. “How’s Ichirou?”

Ayako whirled around before gasping in shock. Ichirou was fine, and he looked rather pathetic, tied up over on the other side of the room. “What’s going on? What happened to me?” he whispered softly, looking around with a kicked puppy like confusion.

* * *

“We’re just not getting anything. Ever since the fox spirit disappeared, all we can get is static.” I growled in frustration as I stared at the two fuzzy monitors in front of me. Naru was sitting in a chair behind us (after much urging) and he’s not looking too hot right now. I was worried. This entire situation had gone downhill very fast.

“Spiritual interference. It’s affecting the gages too; all of the needles are barren.” Lin agreed, typing away at his laptop.

Monk turned to look at Naru, “I mean, it looked like a simple fox spirit. But I guess you can’t judge these things by simple appearances, eh Naru.” He was looking really bad now, leaning his entire face onto his hand and hunched over. “Hey, are you okay, Naru? Are you feeling sick?”

Naru straightened his posture slightly. “No. My back just hurts a bit, that’s all. I think I… I think I’ll go lay down for a little while.” And then he heaved himself out of the chair and moved to walk over to the futons that we had set up in the other room. I stood up quickly and moved over to help him as he stumbled slightly.

“Hang on, Ayako needs to change too. Let us help you to your room.” I suggest softly, gesturing for Ayako to come and take his other side. Ayako rushed over and together we lead Naru into the hallway as he swayed a little. He must have been feeling really shitty, because he didn’t even offer up any protests at us helping him.

Meanwhile Monk was complaining in the other room. “Unbelievable, just who does she think she is, anyway? She completely messed up that exorcism, didn’t she? Come to think of it, has she ever been any _real_ help to us? And there’s even something fishy about her claim to be a Shinto priestess. A real priestess would never be out trying to exorcisms all by herself. Everybody knows that they don’t operate that way. It’s obvious to me that she’s just claiming to be a priestess. The thing is, she does know her way around the double aspect Shinto technique, so I’m guess she received some kind of training.”

We made it maybe 4 feet into the hallway before Naru whirled around suddenly and slammed me into a wall. I was dazed for a fraction of a second, but it was that fraction of a second that allowed Naru to get his hands wrapped around my neck. The iron grip he had was not physically possible for a human – he had been possessed then.

There was a loud thud as Naru threw Ayako into a wall when she tried to help me. With the wind knocked out of her, and herself in a daze, she couldn’t call out for help. My airways had been completely cut off – I would have a nice ring of bruises on my neck that would probably last a day even with my healing if the strength was anything to go by – so I couldn’t call for help either. I hit the wall with my fist and hoped that that would be enough of a racket to grab Monk and Lin’s attention.

I didn’t want to have to hurt Naru to escape, but there was only so long that my body could function without oxygen. I was still human.

“Woah! Look at that! You go, Karma!” Monk crows. He must have been looking at the monitor and assumed that Naru was making out with me against the wall. Fucking really? _That_ was the angle that the camera was getting? _Fucking really?!_ “Lin! Hallway!” And now he’d noticed that his original assumption was wrong. Great.

In a second, Lin and Naru were rushing towards us. Lin knocked Naru out with a simple hit to the back of the neck and he fell limply away from me, allowing me to slide down the wall and regain my breath.

“This is not good, we’ve really gotten ourselves into quite the bind here.” Monk growled as he helped Ayako up. “It’s that spirit again. I thought for sure that the spirit had passed through Naru and out beyond the wall. But it looks like it stayed inside him. I’m afraid Naru’s possessed by that thing.”

* * *

We headed back to base, laying Naru on a futon over in the little alcove in the room with the shutting doors. We can’t risk leaving him in his room, lest he wake up and go on another murderous rampage. I sipped some hot tea and sat beside him while the others discussed what our next moves would be.

“I don’t want to risk going through all that again.” Ayako grumbled as she stared over at us curiously. “And shouldn’t he be tied up like we did with Ichirou, just to be safe?”

Lin shook his head. “This is Naru we’re talking about. I don’t think tying him up will be enough.” So, he was going with revealing Naru’s powers. To be fair, we didn’t have a choice anymore. If things continued to get worse, then I might have to reveal my own powers.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Monk asked, turning to look over at the onmyoji.

“Exactly what I said, Monk. The only reason that Karma wasn’t hurt any worse was because he has similar abilities. I’m worried about the fact that he wasn’t able to break the hold until I knocked him out.” Lin said, glancing over at me in worry. “Whatever it is that possessed Naru, doesn’t seem to have gained full control over his body yet. He only threw Ayako into a wall, not through it. If it did have control, no one in his way would be alive right now.”

I nod, brushing his bangs off of his forehead slightly. “Naru is more dangerous than any of you can imagine.”

Monk stared hard at Lin. “Tell me something, do you think that you’re pretty good in a fight?”

Lin looked solemn as he gave his answer. “I’m not as good as Karma, but I can hold my own.”

“And against Naru?” Monk continued.

Lin closed his eyes and turned his head back towards the downed teen. “In a fight to the death, Naru would be the victor. The only one I see having a chance is Karma.”

Ayako stared at him scandalized. “And why is that? Karma is a teenager with basic ESP!”

I looked over to Lin and sighed heavily. I didn’t want to have to do this, but this case had gotten out of hand way too fast. “I was trained by the Vatican and now hold the rank of Paladin. Only one other living person currently holds that rank, so I’m no slouch in a physical fight. Hand to hand, guns, swords; I use them all. The government got involved in my middle school education, and I was taught how to fight by assassins. Naru wouldn’t be the most powerful person that I’ve taken out.” I admit, avoiding looking at them. I didn’t want to do this, but I could see no other way around this right now.

They needed to be aware of what we have at our disposal if we were going to make a plan to potentially fight Naru if the need arose. “I’m not fully human, Ayako. I’m harder to kill and I’m stronger too. I have powers that don’t work on ghosts – but Naru’s human.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from behind me. “Is that why you heal so fast? And… all that stuff you said about your instincts never being wrong.”

I nod. “Yeah, I have some sixths senses and enhanced other senses as well. I can move faster, hit harder, think faster–” I laugh slightly, not pleased at the slight watery edge to it. “I’m kind of like your own personal super soldier. Against my better judgement, I’ve grown to care for all of you – I won’t hurt you. If you want me gone after this case, I’ll disappear, but for now please trust that I’ll do everything I can to help.” I continue to pet Naru’s hair while I hold back tears.

Dammit. I said I wouldn’t cry.

“Did Naru know?”

I wince, “yeah. He found out after the case at John’s church. It was hard to hide my less than human qualities when I didn’t have control over my body. Lin found out and so did Naru. Both of them kept my secret because I kept theirs. Naru didn’t want any of you to know about his abilities – people have judged him for them in the past. He may not say anything, but you’re very important to him.” I dare not reveal anymore at this time.

I feel a small hand touch my shoulder and I look up to see that Ayako had sat beside me and was moving to pull me into a hug. “We don’t care about how you were born, Karma. Gay, or less than human, it doesn’t change the fact that we consider you family now. Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

I smiled sadly at her, she didn’t fully understand yet. “Not everyone reacts as well as all of you have. Some people believe that it’s their duty to rid the world of the spawns of Satan.” She inhaled sharply before hugging me tighter.

“Karma…” Monk trailed off, looking over at me with sad eyes. “Ayako’s right. We won’t judge you here, so don’t feel like you have to hide from us.” He turns to look over at Lin with steely determination in his eyes. “The same goes for whatever secrets that you and Naru are still keeping. You don’t have to tell us, but know that no matter what, we’ll stand behind you.”

Lin seemed to be just as touched by this as I was – which was surprising since the older man rarely showed any emotions. “We’ll keep it in mind. Know that none of us kept these secrets because we didn’t trust you; we just can’t afford the off chance that you’ll react like all the others.”

Monk nodded and smiled sadly at me, before his gaze returned to Naru’s downed form. “So, I guess having either of you deal with Naru is out. And rolling him up in something and sticking him in a storage room wouldn’t do anything either. Which also means that we can’t wait around for John to get here.” He looked at me again, worriedly. “Wait, are you okay with John, and possibly Masako and Yasu knowing as well?”

“Yeah, Yasu knows about my fight skills anyways. The kid’s smart enough to know that something’s different than me. John recognized me as Vatican from day one, so my only worry with him is judgment on my parentage. I’ll have to face that eventually, so there’s nothing else I can do. I don’t particularly like Masako, so that’s no loss to me. I’m a good enough medium that if worst comes to worst, we don’t need her. I’ve been training my psychic abilities with Naru.”

Monk snorted slightly at my review of Masako but nodded in agreement with my assessment. Ayako reluctantly let go of me and gazed down at Naru’s prone form. The priestess sighed, “we’re going to have to try another exorcism.”

“It is very difficult to do that without knowing the identity of the spirit.” Lin said seriously, I nodded. If I don’t know the fatal verse of a demon, then my Aria abilities are kind of useless. I can’t just go around reciting every single religious text until I find that _one_ phrase that works. “And furthermore, with strong-willed people like Naru, once they’re possessed, it’s even more difficult to drive the spirit out. We should be thankful that it didn’t pick Karma. I doubt any of us could have stopped that.”

Fair.

“If we provoke it to violence, it will be very dangerous.” I add on, “even with my advanced healing, I’m going to bruise for at least a day. And that’s without the thing having full control of Naru. He’s only human; he can only hold out for so long.”

“So what are we supposed to do then?!” Monk asked, frustrated at the spot between a rock and a hard place that we’d found ourselves in.

“Induce paralysis.” Lin said simply. “We’re going to have to keep him sedated like he is now. He’ll be much easier to handle unconscious.”

I nod at the plan, straightening my back and turning to look at the two others and taking charge. “In the meantime, we should split up and find out who that spirit is. If we all leave, Naru will be otherwise defenseless, so Lin, can you leave some of your Shiki here with him?

He nods, already getting up to prepare for what we need to do. “If I leave all five of my Shiki here, they will work together to form a perfect barrier. Nothing will be able to touch him. However, it will leave me completely defenseless. I won’t be much help.” I sigh, but it’s not like we have much of a choice about how we have to handle this case.

“As long as you can stay alive long enough for one of us to get to you, that’s all we need. It’s not like we have much of a choice.” I admit, “it’s not perfect, but at least it’s some kind of plan.” I look at Monk and Ayako with a steely gaze. “I’m not going to lie and say that this isn’t dangerous. This is your one chance at an out. You can leave, I won’t force you to stay, but I ask that if you choose to stay, that you stay for the long haul. This isn’t going to be an easy case, especially without Naru.”

Monk looked almost scandalized at my suggestion that they leave. “There’s no way that we’re leaving the three of you to handle this case alone. We knew what we were signing up for when we got here.”

“He’s right.” Ayako agreed. “What kind of friends would we be if we took off and left you. I don’t care how dangerous it is, we can’t leave now when both you and Naru need us.”

“Alright then. Get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long day. Lin,” I call as I stand up. Lin nods wordlessly and gets to work right away. This is a ragtag team at best, but we just might have a shot at this.

* * *

_The chime of a bell rings through the air. I’m running down a cobblestone path in the middle of what looks like the woods around the Yoshimi Inn, but I can’t be sure. The air smells slightly different. I don’t know where I’m going, but that sense of urgency and fear were both there, and they were very overwhelming. I needed to get away, and fast._

_What am I going to do? How could it have come to this?_

_Those aren’t my thoughts._

_The woods are completely silent except for my own harsh panting and an eerie whistle that could be a bird’s trill. The path comes to an end ahead, the trees leaving a gap where a bright white light filters through. It’s one of those dreams then – this is someone’s memory._

_Gene– no wait, that’s… Naru. There’s no way though, he doesn’t have the ability. But I can tell that it’s not Gene. Gene has a different feel. This feels both like Naru and not Naru. It was like Naru’s image was merely a placeholder; a placeholder for someone else important in this memory. But who? I can only watch this play out and be an unwilling participant then._

_Naru is standing in the middle of a field. He’s standing over a body and holding a bloody knife. The closer I get, the easier to see that the body is that of Akifumi. Holy shit, where was this going?_

_“He left me no choice,” Naru said simply as I gasped and stared at Akifumi. “There was nothing I could do. He was waiting here when I arrived.” The clouds swirled overhead, passing over the dark sky like a time lapse and the wind blew the tall grass violently. Our clothes and hair flapped in the wind. “So of course, I thought you had betrayed me.”_

_I whirled around to look at him, feeling a deep-seated betrayal at both his words and his actions. A betrayed feeling that I couldn’t quite explain. “How could you think I would do that?” I loved him, why would I ever betray him!_

_“It made sense. What other reason could there be for him to be here? You were the only one who knew where we were going to meet.” Naru dropped the knife and turned to stare coolly at me._

_“No, it’s not like that.” I pleaded. “The letters got mixed up, I ended up in a completely different place!”_

_He grabs my hand and pulls me into a tight embrace. “Now that I’ve killed someone, I’ve got nowhere to run. If I turn myself in, they’ll kill me.” I stare up at him with watery eyes._

_“If you’re going to die, I’ll go with you.”_

_He smiles down at me, and the next thing I know, we’re running hand in hand through the dark woods. “They’re right behind us, Naru!” I call, looking behind me to see an entire fucking village chasing after us with pitchforks and torches. Naru doesn’t’ bother to look back, he just tugs me faster._

_“Just keep running!”_

_Finally, we make it to a shrine. But why are we here. We should be at the sea! Wait… why should we be at the sea? Why am I thinking about the sea at a time like this? I collapse just inside the gates of the shrine, my legs no longer supporting me. Naru kneels beside me, wrapping my shaking form in his arms. “I’m sorry,” I gasp, “I can’t run anymore._

_“It seems pretty hopeless to me.” I look up to the side, surprised that I’m seeing Monk standing there, and looking off into the distance. How did he get here?_

_“Tell me,” Ayako said, causing me to whirl around to see her in my dream too. “What’s to become of us now?” Her voice cracks with fear and determination. Neither of them look at me._

_“I guess we’ll have to give up.” That’s Lin. They three of them are standing around me and Naru with their backs facing us. Give up?_

_But it’s too late. The villagers are here, and they’re surrounding us. Lifting scythes and other blades above their heads in preparation to slaughter the four of us._

“I shall curse you from beyond the grave. You shall not escape me.”

* * *

_I jerk up, suddenly feeling very awake. The others are sleeping soundly on their futons all around me, and I let out a breath of relief, moving to lay back down. I sit up though, when I notice that the window is open. I could swear that I closed it before going to sleep. Sure enough, when I get up to go investigate, small glowing white orbs begin to rise through the inky blackness outside of the window._

_Standing down on a rocky platform near the water stands Gene. Not Naru. I’m still stuck in the astral plane, but no longer in the memory; I wonder who Ayako, Monk, and Lin were supposed to represent._

_He raises a hand to beckon me. “Come down here.” He says softly, somehow managing to be heard perfectly despite being more than 100 feet below me. I jump out the window, floating down safely into Gene’s arms, and he gently lowers me until my feet touch the cool stone. “So, did you have the dream?”_

_I frown in confusion. “You mean the one before?”_

_“Did it scare you?”_

_I shake my head. “I wouldn’t say that it scared me. I’m just very confused.”_

_He smiles softly at me. “That’s good.”_

_I look around me, looking up the cliff face to see the Inn. It’s an incredible thing, changing perspectives to such an extreme like this. Near the base of the structure holding up part of the inn, there was a stone staircase carved into the side of the cliff face. I wonder where that goes to._

_My gaze was drawn towards the side, where the spirit orbs had begun to gather around a dark opening. There was a cave… why are the spirits gathering there? Gene gently takes my hand and leads me into the cave, following the hollowed out winding paths. Come high tide, this place must be completely filled with water. It’s eerie._

_“These are all the people who died at sea,” Gene explains when he catches me staring at the orbs. “This is a place that souls drift into. Gene continues to walk ahead, letting go of my hand and disappearing into the dark. I poke at one of the orbs, jumping back as it transforms into a silvery translucent fish and swims away through the air. It disappeared into the same darkness that Gene did, drawing my attention too what looked like a shrine built at the end._

_It was old and made of stacked stones, but it gave it a certain charm. There was a cage resting on top of a large spire, and it gave me an uneasy feeling. The image of the shrine almost looked distorted. I say as much out loud._

_Gene suddenly reappeared at my side. He nods in agreement with my thought, “and I don’t have any idea why.” He admits, looking over at the shrine with a weary view. “However, this doesn’t feel like a bad place, or a good place for that matter. Almost like… some kind of sacred ground.” I nod. He was right, nothing was setting me off. It was like a neutral place – it simply was. Whatever was here had been here much longer than the humans._

_“Sacred.” I whisper looking back at the distorted shrine. “You’re my guide, right? What are you trying to tell me?” He smiles sadly at me and doesn’t respond. Instead, he floated off into the distance, fading into a white light that took over my vision._


	22. File 7 - Part 2

[July]

[Day 2]

When John and Masako arrived the next morning, the first thing we did was take them to see Naru. They were understandably horrified by his unconscious state. “I never imagined that anything this terrible could happen to Kazuya.” John says, his eyes wide.

I look over to Masako, watching as she covered her mouth with her hands and her eyes beginning to water. “Hara-san, can you tell what kind of spirit is possessing him?” I ask.

She lowers her hands and shakes her head. “It’s hard to see clearly. He’s possessed by something, but I don’t know what it is.” She reports dutifully. “You said you were confident that it wasn’t a demon? I admit you have more expertise in that area than I.”

John nods. “Yes, you said you also had something to tell us about? Before we continue the investigation, I mean.”

I sigh and look over at Lin, Monk, and Ayako. Well now or never. “Yes, it came up earlier and I felt it would be unfair to keep it from you when the others know. I informed Yasuhara over a text message this morning.” I explain, waving my phone around. “It has to do with my backstory and what was discovered on the last case. Like I told you, I’m a demon exorcist. What I didn’t tell you was that I am one of the highest-ranking members of the exorcist community. And one of the reasons for that is that I am the half-demon son of Satan. If you have problems with this, then I ask that you don’t make a fuss about it until after this case. Naru is more important.”

There. It was out in the air now.

“I already suspected some things about your identity.” John admitted, laughing lightly and smiling awkwardly. “You told me that your twin brother was Okumura Yukio, but everyone who’s important enough to know, knows that his twin brother is the Paladin son of Satan. All it took was asking around a bit and I knew what you were.” I tensed slightly – of all the people that I revealed myself to, I had to admit that John was the one who scared me the most. He was such a kind guy; it would hurt a lot to have him look at me with hate.

“It actually explained a lot about your uneasiness at the church even though the spirit wasn’t malevolent. I have worked with you for long enough to know what kind of person you are, Karma. I’m happy to continue to be a member of your team.” I didn’t miss how John called SPR my team. As in, it’s just as much my team as it is Naru’s. I can’t deny that I like the sound of that.

Masako ducked her hand behind her sleeve and looked away. “I am not so blind or naïve to see you for who your… father is.” Well that was better than expected at the very least. “But do you have proof of your claim?” And there it is. Without another word, I slipped my tail out from under my shirt and lit both the tip of the tail and the two spots just above my temples where horns would sit on fire. Masako looked mildly impressed, but she didn’t say anything else. If the others were shocked by this display, they hid it well.

I smiled softly, “thank you; all of you.”

“Maybe what we’re dealing with is some kind of hollow spirit.” Masako suggested softly, bringing everyone back on topic.

Lin looked at her in confusion. “What does that mean?”

“They’re colourless and completely transparent. They don’t give off emotions, yet they do tend to have a very strong presence. It could also be that something is interfering, attempting to block us from finding out the spirit’s identity.” She stares at Naru sadly, and it’s times like this when Masako is the only one with the knowledge that I’m grateful that she’s part of SPR.

As she stares sadly at Naru’s deathly still form, I can’t help but empathize with how she feels. The man that she loves is possessed and she is powerless to help. We all are. Even with all of us working together, there’s not much that we can do without knowing what we’re up against. And with that, I need to make a call.

I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone, quickly pulling up Ritsu. “Ritsu-san. I need you to put out a call to anyone involved in the paranormal to ask about situations similar to this case. I want everyone’s input on this. Keep me updated.” I ordered, not bothering to hide this from the SPR team. They know that I’m a demon, and there’s nothing I can do to change that. They don’t yet know about the gang thing, but there’s no harm in leaving it unspoken.

They’ll know that they’re better off not asking any questions. I’m not the only one who has another job besides working with SPR. Ayako’s a doctor, Monk’s a bass player in a rock band, Naru is a professor, Lin is a body guard, Masako is a TV star, John’s a priest, and Yasu is a university student turned gang member. So was being a mob boss really all that weird?

It’s fine.

“Oh, and Ritsu-san, get a hold of Yasu and keep him on standby. I have a feeling that we’ll need him.”

* * *

“I’ll play back the video footage from last night.” Lin said as we all got settled around the monitors that we had set up around the desk.

“Okay, that’s Hazuki’s room. And next to that is the first-floor hallway. Did you guys get the case files that I sent you?” I asked the two newcomers as I pulled out my own case notes along with the black notebook that Naru usually used. It had his own theories and observations for everything that had happened up until the end of the exorcism gone wrong. I don’t know how much use it’ll be, but it’s better than nothing.

The two nodded. Good, they were up to speed on what we know then. I look over at the monitors to see that the orbs from my dreams were littering the screen. They were actually showing up on the film – that was a surprise. “I’ll pull up the room that faces the cove now.” Lin said as he switched out the view of Hazuki’s bedroom for the room that I had been sleeping in in my dream.

“There sure are a lot of them.” Monk remarked, leaning forwards.

“Has anyone noticed that they’re all floating up?” John asked, his voice a little nervous.

Damn. Just like my dream. I turn to look at Lin, “is there any audio?”

He shakes his head, holding up on side of the headphones to his ear and adjusting things on the laptop. “No, there’s not even any vibrations. None of the gages seemed to have picked up anything unusual either, except the temperature has dropped five degrees.”

Someone knocks lightly on the door and after a quick call to enter, the door slides open to reveal Akifumi with a tray full of what looks like a bunch of cups and a pitcher. “Hey!” he beamed, “I brought you guys some coffee.”

I move over to grab the tray, thanking the man for his kindness. “Thank you so much.” And then I figured, why not ask about the dream now. It wasn’t like there was a better way to lead into this anyways. “Hey, by the cove you wouldn’t happen to know anything about an old cave there that has a shrine in it, would you? Also, do you know if there’s some old stone steps that go all the way down to the bottom of the cliff?”

Akifumi stiffens slightly and makes a face. “Oh no, you didn’t go down there, did you?”

I wince slightly, “not exactly.”

“Stay away from there! Those steps are old and extremely dangerous!” He yells, grabbing the attention of the others who were still watching the monitors.

Monk looks over, “hey you two, is everything okay?”

I sighed heavily and stood up, cracking my neck as I went. “Well it looks like I’ve done it again. I had a dream last night, and Akifumi-san here just confirmed the existence of some things to me.” I turned to look back at the stunned client and smirked at him. “If you wouldn’t mind, I think we’d like to see those stairs.

* * *

“I guess these must be the steps you saw in your dream.” Monk said as he stared at the long row of stone steps. At the bottom there was only water – so I was right about the high tide hiding the cave. That didn’t make this sound all that great for us. If we got stuck there, we could easily be killed by the water. And we would have to go down to that cave eventually. That shrine is most likely the centre of all of this.

Akifumi shrugged, “as far as I know, they’ve been here forever. But they’re falling apart, so we don’t really use them anymore.” Monk leaned over the gate to get a better look at the steps while Akifumi was talking.

“But it doesn’t look like we could see the cave from this angle.” He pointed out.

Akifumi smiled and pointed off in a different direction. “It’s high tide right now, but if we go over there by the old tea house, you should be able to see the top of the opening. Here, come with me.”

He led us through the trees and down a well-worn path. After about 15 minutes of walking, we arrived at a small wooden shack/temple thing with a railing near the edge of the cliff. Even before I approached the edge, I could tell that this was exactly what I’d seen in the dream. The structure beneath the inn, the stairs, even the top of the cave opening.

“So, have you guys seen enough, or would you like to keep going?” Akifumi asked cheerfully.

Monk smiled as he saw me staring over the edge of the cliff. “Let’s keep going.”

Akifumi laughed, but he continued to show us around nonetheless. “Now there’s no railing over here, so please be careful.” He explained as he unlocked another gate and let us through. We all filed through, walking to various parts of the cliff edge. I got as close to the edge as I dared – heights don’t necessarily bother me, but I wasn’t all that crazy about tempting fate.

“I was wondering sir,” Ayako began to ask, but the client cut her off.

“Oh, you don’t need to call me ‘sir’. It’s not like I’m running the place or anything.”

Ayako sighed before pointing over to the edge of the tree line. “I just wanted to ask you something. Those, what are they?” I look over to where she was pointing only to see 5 rock spires in a row.

Akifumi shrugged, looking a little lost as to what to say. “I don’t really know what those are. My grandfather would always say that they were some kind of tombstones, and he told all of us kids that we should never play around them.” Tombstones… hadn’t I just been wondering who Lin, Monk, and Ayako were supposed to be? With Naru and I, that would make 5 of us.

“What about those ones? Out there?” John called, drawing everyone’s attention to the two large rock spires in the water that were connected by a large rope wrapped tightly around both of them.

“Oh yeah. Those are Okobu, and Makubu.” Akifumi said thoughtfully, walking over to John to stare out at the rocks. “The big one is the man, Okobu, and the smaller one is the woman, Makubu.” He explained as we all walked over to see ha they were talking about. “According to local legend, a long time ago, a man and woman jumped into the sea and were turned into these stones.”

“They jumped into the sea?” I confirmed, suddenly reminded very much of how I thought that Naru and I were supposed to be at the sea instead of the shrine. His next words cooled my blood and gave me an intense feeling of déjà vu.

Akifumi nodded. “Yeah, legend says that there was a beautiful princess who fell madly in love with a local fisherman. They would meet up secretly, trying to spend as much time as they could together. But as luck would have it, she caught the eye of a son of a nobleman who tried to force her to marry him instead.” He explained. “The princess wanted nothing to do with him, so she agreed to elope with her lover. They wrote each other letters to arrange a meeting, but the nobleman’s son found them and switched the up. The meeting never took place. When the princess realized the mistake, she hurried to fin her lover, but when she got there, he had already killed his rival.”

_He left me no choice. There was nothing I could do. He was waiting here when I arrived. So of course, I thought you had betrayed me._

_How could you think I would do that?_

_It made sense. What other reason could there be for him to be here? You were the only one who knew where we were going to meet._

_No, it’s not like that. The letters got mixed up. I ended up in a completely different place._

“It was too late to do anything. The damage was already done. Knowing there was no way out, the lovers from this cliff to die with each other in the sea. The gods took pity on them and transformed the two lovers into stone so that they’d always be together. At least that’s how the legend goes anyways.” Akifumi said, finishing up his tale.

“It’s not just a legend.” I blurt out, staring at those rocks. “I saw it happen.” I turn to look up at Akifumi. “Is there a shrine nearby?”

He smiled kindly at me, although he did look a little confused. “Yes, there is, in fact, I can show it to you if you’d like.”

* * *

“Is this the one?” Monk asked, placing his hands on his hips and looking around the wooded area.

I take a look around, identifying the arch gates and the other key parts of the scenery. “Yup. It looks exactly how it did in the dream.

Ayako however, was excited for different reasons than a small break in the case. “Wow. This is a really nice shrine,” she remarked, staring up at the well-kept building. “You guys keep it very clean.”

Akifumi looked embarrassed as he walked up to stand beside the impressed priestess. “You think so? I mean, it’s kind of on the small side and it doesn’t even have a priest. My family has been taking care of it for generations, we just kinda took it upon ourselves to keep it clean. Actually, my parents made me do most of the cleaning.”

Was he… was he trying to make a move on Ayako? Even though he was still in denial about his feelings, Monk wouldn’t like that.

“Oh yeah, and that’s really tough work on a kid, right? My parents ran a temple when I was young, and I had to clean it. In the winter that water can get pretty cold!” Monk joked (going against my expectations – of fucking course he was going to bond with the guy), causing Akifumi to laugh.

“It sure can.”

John turned to look at Ayako. “Your parents ran a shrine too, right? Did you have to do the cleaning there as well?”

Ayako scoffed. “No, my parents never owned a shrine. My parents are doctors.” At my look, she rolled her eyes. “They owned the hospital that they ran, so I guess you could say that I grew up rich. I was an only child, so my parents tended to spoil me a bit. Not only that, but we also had several housekeepers to do all the work, so I never lifted a finger to help out with anything.” Well that explained a lot about her personality.

I had known all of this beforehand – background checks after the surprise that was Monk’s job – but the others looked shocked to hear this, although Monk looked just a wee bit smug. He was still on his theory about doubting Ayako’s qualifications. Monk turned to look at another neat row of rocks near the tree line. “And what are those rocks over there?” he asked curiously.

“Oh, those are the Sonroku mounds.” The client said thoughtfully. “It means three-six mounds, but I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because there are three here and six over by the cave.”

“At the cave there were only five.”

Akifumi quickly corrected himself. “Right, they say that there used to be six, but one of them fell into the sea. Around here we still refer to them as the 6 stones at the cape.”

I could practically see the gears turning in everyone’s heads as deduction after deduction began to occur. “So three here, and six at the cape make up the Sonroku mounds.” Monk began, placing his hand on is chin as he stared thoughtfully at the stones. 

“When you say, ‘mounds’ you mean ‘gravestones.’” John added. “Do you think that perhaps the missing mound might have something to do with all of the problems that the Yoshimi family has been having?”

Ayako lit up as she seemingly figured out the case. “Of course! See the mounds are the fox’s graves – like the fox spirit that possessed Ichirou and Naru – it all makes sense! While making the inn they must have destroyed a fox’s grave; and that’s how the curse began.” There were actually sparkles surrounding her, and she’d pulled the good guy anime pose. I needed to shut that down, like now.

“Slow down – let’s not jump to conclusions.” I warned her, ignoring her as she face-faulted and turned to Masako. “Did you sense anything, Hara-san?”

“I’m sorry, but I did not sense any presence of animal spirits at the inn or the mounds. Spirits will lie sometimes, many times they will take the form of animals so that they can better disguise themselves from humans.” She looked kind of sad.

Monk looked down at her, crossing his arms over his chest. “So do you think our fox was just a disguise?”

She nodded, “perhaps.”

I raise an eyebrow, “did you get anything else?”

“I feel the presence of many spirits, I’m not entirely sure about what they are, but I believe that they’re some kind of drifting spirits. It’s odd, I’m getting mixed signals from this place.” She looked around the shrine, an almost panicked look in her eyes. This must be overwhelming for her. “It doesn’t feel good, but it doesn’t feel bad either.”

_This doesn’t feel like a bad place, or a good place for that matter. Almost like… some kind of sacred ground._

Somehow, I always manage to forget that Gene was a medium too.

“I once visited a sacred Native American site. I’m getting the same impression here that I got there; that it’s a holy place, guarded by spirits.” Masako continued to explain.

I balanced my weight on one leg and leaned forwards slightly. “So, like a passage? Spirits drift into this place – maybe it’s an area that they can’t resist being drawn to.”

That seemed to resonate with Akifumi, because he looked kind of somber as he spoke. “Well Akabane-san, if what you say is true, it kinda makes sense because supposedly, the bodies of people who died at sea were drawn to this shore. That’s the reason they built this shrine here. And more recently, it’s where our dogs drifted to shore.”

Monk pursed his lips, “well that settles it. It looks like we’re going to have to check out that cave now.”

* * *

The water level had fallen by the time that we got down to the shore, and after that it was a simple matter of getting down the much safer route (Akifumi assures us) and then we were at the cave. As soon as we walked into the cave, I took point. It was very dark inside the cave, and the light from the entrance wasn’t enough for the others to see. It was more than enough for me to still see the room in full detail though, so I easily lead the others in a small clump deeper into the cave.

“This is the shrine; the only difference is that in my dream it looked really warps.” I turned to look back at the girl who had latched herself onto my arm. “Hara-san, do you sense anything?”

She nods, tucking herself further into my side (at least I know that she has no problems with being near me now). “Yes. It’s just like the Native American site. There are spirits drifting in, even as we speak.”

Monk then decided to brave leaving the clump that the others were in and made his way over to the shrine. He pulled open the cage like thing and gently felt around in there. “Akifumi-san, do you know what this thing in here is?

He smiles as soon as he sees what Monk has found. “Ah, I see you’ve found Okobu.”

Monk frowned in confusion. “You mean as in Okobu and Makubu?”

“Right, except this is a piece of drift wood, not a rock.” Akifumi agrees. “It’s a head and a hand, kinda like a person.”

“Oh! Like a yebisu. My parents had some similarly posed ones.” 

“Yeah. They keep this yebisu here as a sign of good fortune.”

* * *

We returned to the cave an hour or two later along with a couple of Naru’s cameras. “The tide doesn’t come in too far, so they should be fine right here.” The high tide only covered the one entrance near the safer route, and it didn’t get far past the opening. The other entrance with the stairs only ever had water come in at a maximum of 5 ft. “It looks like the cables can actually reach down here, so we might be able to get some footage after all.”

After we move to head back, I turn to ask Monk the question that I’ve been burning to ask since we first walked out of the cave. “What’s a yebisu?”

“It’s basically something that is washed up on the shore.” Monk replied. “Whenever anything unusual from the sea washed up, it was considered to be a sign of good luck. In buddhism, there is a paradise far to the west called Si Do Jodo, and according to ancient Japanese mythology, there’s a land of eternal youth that lies somewhere far beyond the sea. So, they believe that anything that came from the sea had some kind of special powers.”

John turned to look up at the tall monk. “So, the Okobu in the cave is…”

“Yep,” Monk nodded. “It must have washed up on the beach, and when they noticed that it looked like a statue of buddha, they enshrined it.”

The sea, the legend, the shrines, the mounds; it all lead up to something and it all stemmed from that dream. It was memories and Gene never showed me anything that wasn’t important. Even though we didn’t go to the sea, I still felt like that’s where we supposed to be. Instead we were surrounded by an angry mob at the shrine. And then someone had appeared with a scythe – thinking back on it I think that it was Ichirou.

_I shall curse you from beyond the grave. You will not escape me._

Why would it say something like that? What was so important that I was missing here? It had something to do with that cave – that and the fact that it was sacred ground. Nothing here felt like it didn’t belong there. Everything was pre-established, nothing _unnatural._ There were spirits, but they weren’t malevolent. So why were they so drawn to this?

It didn’t feel like a demon, and it didn’t feel like a spirit. There was _something else_. What was it?!

Wait… something other than a demon or a spirit. There was a shrine dedicated to its presence. Could it be… a god?

* * *

I walked down the hall, having finished my thinking in the bath and heading back to base. The inn was really a wonderful facility, it’s just a pity that the family is so haunted. I was almost at base when suddenly Akifumi came crashing down the halls covered in blood.

“Something terrible has happened! It’s my brother!” Akifumi yelled, and then he practically dragged me into a different room. The others followed us as soon as they saw me running, and the sight that we were greeted with upon entering the room. Akifumi’s brother was laying down on a futon and absolutely covered in blood. I couldn’t even tell what part of his hands were injured due to just how much blood there was.

I immediately rushed towards the closet and threw ties at Monk and John. “Akifumi, call an ambulance! Monk, John, Ayako! Tie those ties tight and do your best to stop or at least slow the blood. Ayako, determine how much damage was done!” I call, moving over towards the injured man myself and helping John with one arm. Just as I finished tying one of the ties, I heard one of the children sing song from outside the room.

“Oh mister~”

I rush over to stand in the door as Ayako took my place in tending to the man. I made sure to hide my bloodstained arms behind the door and hid the sight of the room with my body.

Katsuki grinned up at me, “is Uncle Yashi dead?” he asked cheerfully. At my wide-eyed look, the kids continued to pester me. “Well? Is he dead yet?”

…yet?

“There’s an ambulance on its way right now.” I said carefully.

This caused the two kids to turn to each other and pout. “I guess he’s still alive then.” Katsuki frowned.

Wakiko nodded in agreement with his disappointment, “oh well…” and then the two ran down the hallway hand in hand. I didn’t bother trying to stop them, instead, I focused on doing my best to save this Yoshimi Yashi’s life alongside Ayako.

* * *

“Ever since Grandfather’s funeral, I’ve been hearing these voices in my head. They tell me to kill the family – it gets worse, because every night I’ve bee killing you all in my dreams. Katsuki, Hazuki, Wakiko, all of you. And then I realized that if it kept going like this I was really going to do it someday.” Yashi began to cry softly as he closed his eyes. We’d all rushed to the hospital along with Akifumi, and everyone was still covered in blood.

We left Akifumi to comfort his brother shortly after getting Yashi’s statement on what happened alongside the police. They were there already, so we gave them our own statements, and then returned to the inn.

* * *

“He said he planned to take his own life in hopes of preventing that from happening to the rest of us.” Akifumi summarized what he found out from his brother.

“And if we had gotten there any later, he would’ve really done it too.” Monk said from my right, looking very solemn. “This is all our fault, I’m sorry that we haven’t been able to figure this out.” Monk bowed deeply from his sitting position on the floor.

Akifumi shook his head and bowed his own head. “No, no, if we hadn’t hired you guys in the first place, then your boss wouldn’t be in the condition he’s in.” he glanced over at the closed doors which hid Naru’s sleeping form from view. “And you, Akabane-san. If you hadn’t taken charge of the situation, we might not have been able to save my brother’s life. He would have done this even if you hadn’t been there. It might have even happened sooner.”

“Lin, you left your shiki around Naru, right?” Monk asked as he slid open the door and looked into the smaller room.

Lin paused in his typing. “That’s right.”

“Would you know if any spirits came near him?” Monk was thinking of something, I just know it, but unfortunately, no one else in the room was making the same connections. Not even Lin, and he was apparently half of this equation.

“Yes, I would.”

“Well how about if a spirit left him. Would you know that?”

Lin only nodded again. “Without a doubt. But there isn’t a spirit that exists that could leave him as long as that spell is intact.”

That’s when I got what he was getting at. “That means that there’s more than one malevolent spirit targeting the Yoshimi family. If how those kids have been acting, I’m going to bet that there’s at least two more. There could be as many as one for every family member.” I deduce, the others gasping in shock beside me. Monk nods. I turn to look at Masako. “Do you feel up for checking every family member?”

“Of course.”

I nod and turn to Monk, John, and Ayako. “I need you three to go and get everyone to make sure that we check them over.” They nodded sharply and left to do as they were told.

* * *

“I sense the same as with Naru – it’s the same hollow feeling.” Masako declared as she stared at a Hazuki. We were all gathered back in the base, John having brought in Hazuki and Yashitaka along with Akifumi. “I don’t detect a great deal of bitterness or any kind of grudge. But then… I can’t rule out the possibility that she may be possessed by an evil spirit.” She reported.

I nod from my spot leaning against the wall. In the process of filling in for Naru, I pretty much imitated Naru’s mannerisms. The others needed that sense of familiarity right now, and I was nothing if not a good actor. Call my bluff, I _dare_ you.

“John, I want you do perform an exorcism on Hazuki-chan, and then another on Yashitaka, back at the hospital, just in case.” I order, John’s eyes hardened with determination and he nodded sharply.

“I can do that,” he nodded and pulled out his bottle of holy water. Masako moved over so that she could hug the small girl light as John began his exorcism with little fanfare. John shot me a slightly nervous look, as if suddenly realizing why I stood far away from him whenever he performed an exorcism, but I simply waved him forwards. “In the beginning there was the word…”

Hazuki looked scared, but Masako quickly shushed the child.

I moved towards the door just in time to hear Akifumi’s sister declare that she couldn’t watch it anymore and then proceed to run down the hall. She’s possessed by something, there was nothing traumatizing about what John was doing. If she was a proper mother and worried for her child, she would be right there beside her frightened kid, not running away and abandoning her. “Ayako, can you make us all some charms. We need enough for us and each one of the Yoshimi family.” I request, not taking my eyes off of the Yoshimi girl’s back. “As quickly as you can.”

Ayako nodded, “right away.”

“Akifumi, can you do me a favour and take Monk back to your family’s shrine. He has some business that he needs to do in order to help us.” I request, my steely tone causing Akifumi to straighten his back unconsciously. He nodded.

“Of course.”

* * *

“No thank you.”

“Are you sure, see this is a charm that will keep spirits away from you, but it won’t work unless you keep it somewhere on your person.” I say slowly, looking up at the woman sitting across from me. It’s Hazuki’s mother, and it took me an almost ridiculously long time for me to track her down. She seemed hellbent on not being caught in a room with me.

The woman smiles at me. “I see. But what happens if I decided to take a bath, I can’t take it with me, can I? It’s just a piece of paper.” She had the same dead but far too intelligent look in her eyes as Wakiko and Katsuki. At my scowl her grin widened. “Then I guess I’ll be passing.” She turns to get up when I slam my hand on the table, startling her.

“See, I know that what you’re doing is bullshit. Not only has almost every single family member accepted the charms as at least a placebo, you, your son, and Wakiko refuse to. I know that the two of them are possessed by something, and I’m willing to bet that you are as well. I’m onto you.”

Yoko just slams the door shut with one last smile.

* * *

While the others are busy doing the tasks that I had delegated for them, I was left with chasing Wakiko and Katsuki down the halls for the third time to give them their damn charms. “We don’t want them!” they yelled as I chased them through the house. Fuck! These charms that I had Ayako make for both the kids and Yoko were slightly different than the ones for everyone else.

These ones were designed to disrupt the spirits hold on the vessel, and I suspect that that’s why they were even more reluctant to have the charms. Seriously, dumbass spirits, if it had been a regular charm, they could just take it and shred it later.

The kids were running outside now, and that was not okay. There was no guarantee that the spirit cared all that much for who they had as a vessel, and I wasn’t willing to bet the brats lives. The kids are probably not as shitty as the spirit is making them act. Probably. “Wakiko!” I yell suddenly, “did you know that your uncle died?” This piece of news brought them to a grinding halt.

The two turned to face me in sync with large smiles plastered on their faces. “Really? Wonderful!”

I nod, slowly approaching them, carefully hiding my predatorial gate. Well if it was death of the Yoshimi’s that these spirits wanted to hear about, I can get pretty damn graphic if I have to. “Yup. And so did Akifumi.”

“Uncle Aki died too? Did he drive his car?” I carefully turned on my phone, knowing that Ritsu would immediately send out the message to Monk about the car. The kids had tampered with it. I grabbed their hands and held on rightly.

“You cut the brakes, didn’t you?” I growl, watching as their eyes widened at the inhuman noise coming from me. Ah, there it was; the fear. They realized that they were outclassed. Fucking finally.

The boy wrenched himself from my grip and ran over to the railing. “You let her go! You let her go right now!” he yells, stomping his feet and glaring at me. He was seething. The spirit that was possessing this brat wasn’t like how Masako claimed to be. There was no way that this thing was hollow – it was definitely holding a grudge.

“Not until you get out of that boy.” I hiss, shoving Wakiko into Ayako’s arms. “Ayako you hold her tight and make her hold that charm. She’s possessed, and there’s no way around it.” Ayako holds the girl tightly, slamming the charm onto her arm and making her go limp. The spirit is in between possession and not – Wakiko will remain unconscious until we could deal with the thing that has her.

Katsuki however – “You let her go right now! Or I’m going to throw myself off of the cliff. That’ll show them.”

I stalk forwards, moving to get in the boy’s face. “Yeah? And who’s them?”

Katsuki’s face dropped the anger, and suddenly his face falls into a lazy smirk. “ _Them all._ ” He hisses, and not in Japanese either. No, he hisses that in the language of the demons. That little _shit._

“I’d like to see you try!” And then I’m lunging for him, grabbing onto his arm and holding him tightly, struggling to slam the charm down onto exposed skin. All I need is one touch and–

 _“I’m going to kill you, mister. Not just you, everyone in this house is going to die, including this little boy.”_ It hisses at me, struggling violently. _“Of course, drowning in the sea would be merciful, not nearly as bad as someone chopping off your head, I think. Or having the one you love betray your trust.”_

“So tell me,” I grunt, “did they chase you to the shrine and kill you in cold blood? Did the people in this house do it to you? Is that why you hate them?” Just a little bit farther, all I need to do is keep him talking and I’ll have an opening.

 _“Maybe,”_ the boy taunts, nearly slipping through my fingers. _“Don’t worry, you won’t have to worry about this case for much longer.”_ I freeze, what did he– _“Because you won’t be alive to!”_ And then the damn thing flipped me and through me into the air. I hadn’t even realized that he had maneuvered us towards the edge! Fucking shit!

“Ayako! Get the charm!” I yell, hoping that she hears me, but honestly not counting on it. At this point, I just hope that the spirit doesn’t make the kid jump after me. I’m going to have a hard-enough time surviving this fall without having to protect someone else too.

I do my best to flip around, maneuvering myself so that I can see where I’m falling, and praying to whatever deity that would listen that there wasn’t just a bunch of rock spires below the surface. There was no way for me to slow down my fall enough to protect myself from full injury. I just need to focus on doing my best for it to not be fatal. A fall this high – that water is going to feel like concrete.

That means I need to do my best to soften my fall. Limbs first – those heal in days – and maybe I can slow myself down enough to walk away from this with only a concussion. I managed to maneuver myself into my chosen position, just in time for me to hit the water.

I blacked out upon impact.

* * *

I came to who knows how long later. I had managed to breath in quite a bit of water, but not enough to kill me, so I was able to flop around a bit until I was floating on my back and panting slightly. I wouldn’t be able to expel too much water until I was on dry land, so the hard part for me now was to make my way back towards the cliff and where someone would be able to pick me up. Fuck – I hope those waterproof prototypes that Itona was trying out worked, otherwise I might be stranded for a while.

Shit. Would I even be able to swim over to the cliff? How far out was I? How injured was I?

I cracked open my eyes, wincing at the brightness, but determined to see where I am. My eyes had almost been glued shut, and my vision was blurry, but I could still see. Luckily for me, it would appear that I hadn’t blacked out for all that long – it was still day time and I was right next to the Okobu and Makubu stones, and it didn’t take all that much effort to drift over to them and grasp onto the side for a moment. That action did reveal just how bad a shape I was in. Not only was my back no doubt covered in bruises, but it would appear that I’d actually broken at least one of my legs.

I looked down, coughing up sea water as I went to see that I’d definitely broken the calf on my left leg, but the others seemed to be okay. Okay, the leg bone might be visible, but the bleed didn’t look that bad, and my joints may be sore, but I can move. I cough up more sea water, trying to empty my lungs as best as I can while I figure out where I should go from here.

Shore was only maybe 35 yards away; I can make it, even in my condition. It hurts like a bitch, and I kind of want to cry a little by the time I collapse beside the cliff face, but I’ve made it, and it didn’t even take all that long. As it was, I didn’t bother dragging the lower half of my body up onto the sharp rock. I weakly fished out my phone from my pocket, my limbs flopping uselessly beside my face as I drop the phone there.

“Ritsu!” I gasp weakly, desperately hoping that it wasn’t completely fried. Water and technology didn’t mix, even though we were still trying to fix that. What I needed right now was something – anything. I can’t wait for people to come and find me, I’m probably going to pass out soon and I haven’t even set my leg. “Ritsu please! Call Lin!” I turn over, struggling to haul my leg up. My healing was going to kick in soon and I was not going to have to rebreak my leg. No sir! I’m not dealing with the bone healing _outside of my body_.

“Fuck!” I shriek as I wrench the limb back into place, producing another gush of blood as the shattered end of the bone tore through my muscle. Expelling those bone shards was going to be a bitch, but less of a bitch than having to heal around a bone, rebreak and reset the damn thing, _and then_ heal that.

I was going to need to eat so much food – holy shit.

The Yoshimi family better be prepared to feed me. They owed me that much after their little brats threw me off a damn cliff. Ayako better have gotten those two kids sedated and exorcised or so help me–

My phone screen lit up to reveal Ritsu’s face. “Karma-san! What happened?” she askes worriedly, flickering slightly but looking for the most part like it was fine. I groaned weakly and rolled back over to face the screen that was propped up on a couple rocks.

“I got thrown off a cliff. I can cross that off my bucket list,” I grumble. Heaving myself up farther and inspecting the bleeding wound. “Call Lin,” I order. Ritsu obeys without question and Lin picks up only after the first ring. Glad to know that he’ll pick up when I call.

_“Karma! Please tell me you survived that!”_

I let out a small laugh; this situation is still a little surreal if we’re going to be honest. I’d survived a lot of things, but this was both incredibly mundane and _not_ at the same time. “Yeah, I did, but I’m not in the greatest shape. I’m down by the Okobu and Makubu rocks. I’ve made it near the shore – don’t call an ambulance, but please send Monk and someone else who can help carry me. Maybe Ayako too – I don’t know how much longer I can stay conscious.”

Even as I said that, I could sense the impending fall to unconsciousness. Black was creeping around the edges of my vision at an alarming rate. I can feel myself slipping, and I know that my voice was alarming Lin.

 _“Karma! You need to stay awake! We’re coming–_ ”

* * *

I come to in a bright room. I’m laying on something soft (a futon?) but I’m surrounded by noise. Well, noise to me; it was probably just some soft murmuring to everyone else. My tail was twitching violently from a combination of pain and using a lot of energy. I groan softly before struggling to sit up, grunting in protest when hands softly encourage me to lay back down.

“Don’t try to get up right now. You’re in pretty rough shape,” a soothing voice says from beside me, and I look over blearily to see that Ayako was urging me to lay back down. She was a doctor, she probably knew what she was talking about. I reluctantly return to a horizontal position.

Looking around reveals that the others were all sitting around me and seemingly waiting for me to wake up. Even Lin! And boy did he look worried…

“Did you… were you able to exorcise the children?” I slurred slightly, lolling my head to look over at John.

He nodded sharply but looked very worried at me. “Yeah, they are with their parents right now – but we’re all pretty worried about you right now, Karma. You were just thrown off a cliff. How are you feeling?” he asked, his eyes wide.

I sigh heavily and do a quick body check. Everything fucking aches, but that’s no surprise. It would seem that Ayako had wrapped my leg with some gauze too, but that would need a change soon. It had apparently been a couple hours (the sky outside the window was dark), and I had bled through a lot with all the bone fragments making their way to the surface while the wound was still open. Ugh, what was my body?

“I could be better, and I’ll probably be out of commission for a little bit, but I should be okay to continue the case. Just don’t expect me to be any stronger than a normal human right now. All of my energy is going to healing my body, so no flames or super strength for me. I’m going to need a shit ton of food though,” I confess, causing those around me to crack a slight smile at my blasé attitude.

“Well that’s a relief,” Monk said, laughing weakly, “we were really worried when Ayako rushed back into the house shrieking about how the kids threw you over the side of the cliff. Lin was in a tizzy when he got your call. This case seems to have brought us a lot of bad luck – that’s two leaders that have been attacked now.” He joked slightly, but his face was a little too serious to completely pull it off.

I nod, “alright. What happened while I was out? The thing possessing Katsuki said something about messing with Akifumi’s car, and what exactly happened with the kids anyways? Someone better fill me in.” The others glanced at each other before taking turns on reporting what I had missed.

“Well, it turns out that the brakes had been cut, so if Akifumi had driven without knowing, he could have easily gotten into a nasty crash. But we got the forewarning, so no one was hurt there.” Monk explained, grimacing as he continued his explanation. “Ayako was able to get the charm onto Katsuki, and then John exorcised the two spirits successfully. We weren’t yet able to get a handle on Yoko.”

“There been no change in Naru’s condition,” Masako continued, “and I have as of yet, been unable to sense anything new about this place. However, Katsuki and Wakiko are unpossessed and in possession of the regular charms with strict instructions to not let them go. Katsuki remembers throwing you off the cliff and was understandably distressed when Lin and Monk returned with your unconscious body. You’ll need to speak with the Yoshimi family later – everyone’s been worried since no one has ever survived a fall like that before.”

Now it was Ayako’s turn to deliver her news. “Your injuries are rather minor, and I’d assume that you have your healing factor to thank for that. Your leg has been bleeding profusely for the past few hours but judging by the bone fragments I keep finding in the bandages, I would assume that your body is expelling the matter that it no longer has a use for. We were able to hide your tail easily enough, and the Yoshimi family just think that you are lucky. Unfortunately, they did see your scars and the severe bruising that covers your back.”

“You’ll be sore for quite a bit,” Lin spoke up, surprisingly. “So, you will be remaining in the base with me unless circumstances do not permit it. You can run the case from here, but we’d like to keep an eye on you.”

I mean, fair enough. But that doesn’t mean that I had to like it. “Fine,” I grumble, shifting slightly so that I wasn’t putting too much pressure on some of the deeper bruising on my back. The others seemed much more at ease at my acquiescence and began to chatter a bit about their theories for the case based off the new information that we’d gotten from the exorcisms of Katsuki and Wakiko.

A knock at the door broke the happier atmosphere. The door slid open to reveal a noticeably nervous and somber Akifumi. “Is everything okay? Has he woken up yet?” he asked anxiously, before his eyes fell on me. “Oh, thank God!” he let out in a rush, walking deeper into the room and sitting down beside the others.

I smirked up at him. “You didn’t think that getting thrown of a cliff was all that it would take to kill me, did ya?” I joke. He let’s out a laugh that sounds more like a sigh of relief than anything else.

“Well you’re only human, and too many people have died after falling off that cliff.” He bowed so low that his forehead actually touched the floor. “On behalf of my family, I’d like to apologize for the damage that this case has caused your team.”

I wave a hand flippantly, wincing as I catch sight of the bruising visible even over my tattoos. Well I won’t be able to wear anything except for long sleeves around the Yoshimis from now on. “We knew what we were signing up for. So far, I’m the most serious injury on our end, and I’ll be fine after a couple of days.”

He smiles weakly, “is there anything that we can do for you?”

The corners of my lips quirk up. “Well, how about some food?”


	23. File 7 - Part 3

[July]

[Day 2]

He smiles weakly, “is there anything that we can do for you?”

The corners of my lips quirk up. “Well, how about some food?”

“Yeah,” he laughs, “we can do that.” He got up from his kneeling position and moving towards the door. However, he was stopped from leaving by Yoko bursting into the room and immediately beginning to shriek at us.

“Alright! I want to know which one of you traumatized the children, and who made them carry those horrible things!” Yoko demanded, looking frazzled and like a completely different person.

Monk carefully shifted over slightly so that he was cutting off her view of me ever so slightly. “What do you mean?” he asked softly, his form stiffening as he crouched at the front of the group.

“I’m talking about those useless charms you’re making them hold. Take those away from them! You’ve brainwashed the kids into holding those charms, and you’ve done something to Hazuki – I can see it in her eyes.” Yoko looked like a complete and utter mess. She was having such a disaster of a meltdown that it was hard to believe that she was the same person that I’d seen just earlier today. “It’s the same thing that you’ve done to the others. How long do you people think you can get away with this?” she shrieked, panting heavily at us and practically snarling.

I raised a hand, brushing the back of Monk’s shirt, silently telling him to get out of the way. Despite Ayako’s soft protests, I sat up, straightening despite the pain so that I could glare confidently at the mess of a woman standing in front of Akifumi. “First of all, those charms aren’t doing anything to them except preventing spirits from getting access to them. And second of all, the only reasons that the kids and anyone else in this family are traumatized are because of this haunting, and the fact that they all saw Lin and Monk bring me up from the shore after _one of them threw me off a cliff._ ” I hiss. “So carry the damn charm.”

Yoko (or whatever was wearing Yoko) seemed at a loss for what to say. She just panted heavily for a moment. “That thing is useless, it won’t stop anything.” She said, her eyes taking on that dead look that I had seen in Katsuki and Wakiko.

I cocked my head to the side. “Then why do you keep refusing it? Because it seems to me that you know what it will do, and you know that it will work. It worked with the children… did it not?” I smirk. Moving faster than I thought that Monk was capable of, he pulled out the charm and slapped it onto her forearm, effectively immobilizing the spirit and Yoko. I smile at him before turning to John. “If you would do the honours.”

He nods and dutifully grabbing his holy water, preparing to do his exorcism. “In the name of our lord Jesus Christ, I command unto thee, to whatever part of the body thou mayest be hiding, show thyself at once, and flee thee from the person that thou hast occupied. Leave at once. Leave the body you have imprisoned and seek not a body that was given unto God, the almighty. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I forbid thee from entering this hallowed body again for all eternity.”

Almost immediately after John had said his piece, Yoko began to convulse violently, nearly frothing at the mouth as the spirit possessing her tried to hold onto its vessel. However, John was no amateur, and the exorcism was successful. The spirit was cast out, and Yoko collapsed onto the floor in a heap.

“What just… happened?” she asked, looking up at the group of people gathered around her in confusion. Her eyes widened suddenly, and she looked around at all of us – taking in my state of… well my state – with a panicked look in her eyes. “Who are you people? What are you doing in my house?”

Well shit.

* * *

I set down my chopsticks and leaned back against the small mound of pillows that the guys had set up for me so that I could be a bit more vertical. “Yoko had no memories of the last two days while Katsuki and Wakiko were aware of what they did to me. It’s obvious that all three of them were possessed before we even got here, so I guess that means that we have some very very different types of possession.” I say, looking around the room at the others.

“I suppose that would mean that it could be reasonable to assume that everyone in this family could be possessed.” Ayako mumbled, finishing up her own food. I grimaced, that certainly was a possibility right now, and that wasn’t looking good for our chances at solving this case.

Monk nods sagely. “And then there’s Naru. I still don’t understand why he didn’t even try to run away from it.”

“He was arrogant.”

We all turned around to look over at Lin who was quietly typing up an email – no doubt a report to Naru’s parents. It was pretty surprising to hear him speak up, especially speaking in a negative light about his boss. “He thought that he would be able to handle it; with his powers, he might have been able to with another spirit. This case is different and more powerful than he expected.”

I sigh and turn towards the others. “In other words, Naru has a history of playing chicken and winning.” Monk winced slightly as he looked back at the slumbering teen. Lin had painted a character on Naru’s forehead and cast a spell, so there was no way that he would wake up as long as the spell remained intact. Lin was a strong spellcaster.

A light knocking at the bamboo door announced the presence of Akifumi (it always seemed to be him that was trying to keep up to date with the case). He slid open the door and looked into the room, an oddly somber look on his face. “Oh, excuse me, I’m interrupting you guys. I can come back.” He says quickly, hurrying to turn and leave the room.

I struggled upwards again, leaning on my forearms and stretching my back and sore muscles as I went. Just a couple more hours and I should be good to start running around with the others again. No heavy lifting, but the bone should be healed to about a fracture right now. “No, it’s alright. Is there something you need to tell us?” I ask, groaning as my spine cracked audibly.

He winced at the sound and looked down at the ground, a heaviness coming over him. “Yes actually. I’m sorry to trouble you with this – especially since you’re still recovering from your own ordeal – but I was hoping that I could ask for some help. You see, my sister Nao has gone missing.”

I straighten up immediately. That didn’t sound good, especially since there’s a pretty strong possibility of everyone here being possessed. With the spirit’s failure to kill me… would they settle for taking the life of one of the Yoshimis? “Of course, how long has she been missing.”

“We don’t know exactly.”

I purse my lips. That wasn’t all that helpful, but what can ya do. I turn to the team. “Lin, Monk, John. Would you be able to help Akifumi-san search? Ayako, Masako, and I will watch over the base. I’d join you, but I’m not able to walk right now.” Lin nods sharply before getting up along with the others and heading towards the door after Akifumi. “Good luck.”

* * *

“Did you find her?” I asked as the guys filed back into the base after a couple of hours.

Monk shakes his head tiredly. “No, not yet.” He says grimly. Shit. That wasn’t looking all that good for Nao. 

“When we searched her bedroom, we saw that she had left her wallet and keys behind, so I doubt that she could have made it very far by herself.” Akifumi helpfully added, looking very dejected. The universe just wasn’t cutting him any slack today. I bet he wasn’t expecting this to happen when his grandfather died.

Ayako looked up suddenly, “come to think of it, I don’t even think that we gave her a protection charm.”

Akifumi looks down sadly, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “If she still hasn’t returned by morning, I’ll file a missing persons report with the police.” The man looked absolutely miserable, and I empathized with the guy. Poor Akifumi seemed to be like the only family member actually invested in figuring out what the fuck was up with his family. Poor guy was getting run ragged with all the shit that had happened in the last two days. I still hadn’t seen the brats. “I guess that’s all we can do for the night.”

Lin jerked around in his chair and looked towards me. “Karma, Takigawa! Look, it’s the feed from the cave.” Monk immediately rushed over to the monitor, his eyes widening. I struggled to lift myself up and look over at the monitors. There was something bobbing in the water near the opening of the cave, and if Monk’s face meant anything, then he thought the same thing as me.

“John! Come with me!” Takigawa ordered, running out of the room along with Lin and John. I half crawled half shuffled over to get closer to the monitor as Ayako rushed over to see what they were looking at.

“What?” she asked breathlessly, “what is it?”

I looked over at her. “I think that we found Nao.” She gasped in shock, lurching backwards in horror at my suggestion. The monitor’s footage wasn’t the greatest, but it was enough to see that it was indeed a body that had washed up into the cave.

Unfortunately, Akifumi overheard my deduction and immediately bolted out of the room. All we could do was watch as Lin and Monk hauled the corpse up onto dry rock and Akifumi go rushing in and trying to revive her with CPR. It was too late – she was no doubt already cold.

* * *

I sigh heavily as everyone sit silently in the base. Akifumi had called the police an hour or so ago and was handling the affairs with his family. We had chosen to remain in the base, so as to both be out of the way, and to not impede on the family’s chance to grieve. One of their own had just died. It couldn’t be easy for the family to deal with – especially when evidence points towards foul play of a supernatural kind.

This was different than the times that we’d found those dead bodies during the Urado case. While those had been gruesome, Monk and the others didn’t actually have to touch the bodies. That and Naru immediately took charge and we were still in imminent danger. Right now we were at a lull in the case and Naru was as good as useless, so there was nothing that we could do right now. The others were really bothered by the state that Nao was found in, the most evidently bothered being Monk who was just sitting in the corner with a damp towel over his hair.

“Ms. Hara, do you feel up to trying to channel Nao?” The others all look at me like I’m crazy, but Masako actually looks a bit relieved at something to do. No one likes to be sitting on the sidelines in a situation like this. She nods, and we all begin to move around the room, John turning off the lights and Monk grabbing some candles and incense from the bag in the corner of the room beside the shelves.

“Shouldn’t we invite the family in here in case we make contact?” Ayako asks softly as she clears off the table in the base, dumping our casefiles over by the table that Lin was using. “With how sudden her death was, she might have some things she needs to say.”

I shake my head. “No way,” the others looked a bit shocked at how harsh I was. “There’s a strong possibility that her death was foul play. Not only that, but it’s very likely that the murderer is someone in her family. I wish it weren’t the case, but that’s the grim reality. That’s why we need Masako to summon her spirit – maybe she can tell us what happened.” Ayako looked down sadly, clearly troubled by this, but understanding my points.

Masako took a deep breath and closed her eyes, clasping her hands together. One moment, she was clearly Masako, and the next, her entire posture changed. I could _feel_ the moment that her own soul took a step back and Nao slipped into place. “Are you Yoshimi Nao?” I ask softly, looking over at the newly demure girl.

“Yes,” she whispered. Damn, even her voice sounded different.

“You have passed away and are now deceased,” I continue gently, soften my voice in an attempt not to frighten her. I admit, I was heavily imitating how Naru had handled Suzuki. “Do you know how you died?”

She lowered her chin, tears beginning to leak from her closed eyes. “I fell…” she whispered, “…in the sea. I was looking at the water from just outside the restaurant… when someone pushed me.” She said slowly, as if struggling to remember what had happened.

“Who pushed you?” I prod gently. “Do you remember anything? Even the slightest detail could help us find out who did this to you. I work with this kind of thing all the time – I promise that I can give you justice.”

“I don’t know,” she sobbed, her voice wobbling violent and the tears continued to fall, dampening the kimono in her lap. “I don’t want to know.” The candle flickered violently a split second before Nao screamed and shook.

“What’s happening?” Monk asked, leaning over and looking like he desperately wanted to help but not knowing how.

Nao shook her head, clutching onto the table, her knuckles going white. “It feels like something is grabbing onto me. No! Please, someone help me! Let go of me!” she cried, her tears rapidly falling from her eyes as she shook. “I don’t want to go in there – get away, monster!”

Masako’s body went limp, tipping backwards onto the floor with a soft thump. Ayako turned to look over at me, her eyes wide and slightly watery. “Did you hear that? She said ‘monster’.”

“Yeah, I wonder what that could have been…” John mused, looking alarmed.

I leaned forwards, resting my elbows on the table in front of me and folding my hands in front of my face. “Nao herself has now confirmed that she’d been murdered – and most likely by someone in her own family.” I say slowly, looking over at Masako’s unconscious body. “This is where I ask you all again if you’d like to leave. Things are getting a lot more dangerous, and two of our own team have been hurt. Naru is indisposed after being possessed by a violent spirit and I was thrown off of a cliff into rocky waters. If I hadn’t been who I am, I would have died. Are you sure that you want to stay?”

The others exchanged looks once more before staring at me with determination. “There’s no way that we’re leaving now. We’re in this until the end.” Monk declared.

I sighed heavily, rubbing my temples and blowing out the candle. “Alright then. Ayako, please help Masako. We start again tomorrow.”

* * *

_The first thing I see upon opening my eyes is a blinding white light. I quickly shut them, waiting a moment for the brightness behind my eyelids to fade before opening them again. I was back in the cave again and surrounded by the small glowing spirits. Everything looked rather normal for my dreamscape, until Nao appeared at the mouth of the cave._

_Her body was slumped over and swaying, but she followed the floating path of the others through the caves and past the shrine. I followed her through the other end, watching as she joined the other glowing orbs in flying up towards the sky._

_I look back towards the shrine, seeing that unlike during my waking hours, the damn thing was all distorted and warped again. Why was that?_

_Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw something odd. Nao had just entered the cave again, and she was flowing past me and up towards the sky. And she did it again, and again, and again. It was like a cycle that she was trapped on._

_“It’s the ritual of rebirth.”_

_I whirl around to see Gene standing over deeper into the cave. I let out a sigh of relief, walking into the cave and over to him. “Gene! I’m so happy to see you – do you have something to tell me?” I say in a rush, relieved beyond belief to see him. “And what do you mean by ‘ritual of rebirth’?”_

_“Moving towards a dark hole signifies being reborn; she’s passing through the birth canal for a second time. As she passes through the cave again and again, she’s attempting in her own way to leave this world and be reborn as something else.” Gene explains, smiling softly at me._

_I cock my head to the side. “Something else?”_

_He nods, turning to watch Nao make yet another circuit through the cave. “This cave attracts spirits. As soon as a soul enters the cave, they will repeat the ritual. That’s all I know so far.” He confesses, looking a little lost and a little dejected by the lack of information that he was able to gather._

_“Does that mean that I’m a spirit now too?” Naru and I had done some research on astral projection when we’d found out that that was what my powers were, but each person was apparently different. So was each spirit guide, and with my dreams being few and far between unless we were on a case, it was hard to ask Gene about my abilities._

_Now was not the time for me to discover more about my powers. We needed to close this case as fast as we could, and we needed Naru for that. All of my focus needed to be on finding out what Gene knew._

_He nods. “Yes,” he purrs, “that’s why it’s best that you not come here alone. Let’s go.” He offered me his hand and gently lead me through the cave. I closed my eyes for maybe a second, but of course, that was all that was needed for Gene to completely disappear, leaving me in complete darkness._

* * *

“–arma! Karma!”

I jolt awake violently, ripping the covers from off of me and fumbling for the knife that I would usually keep under my pillow. I look around wildly, completely caught off guard by the rude awakening that I received. Masako was sitting in front of me, her hand held out hesitantly as if she had shaken me awake. “Is everything okay?”

She looks at me with a surprisingly soft look in her eyes. “You were calling out in your sleep. You had been left alone and were panicking.” She says quietly. I looked down slightly, wincing at the weakness I’d revealed in my sleep. I really need to get a handle on my psychic abilities. That is the first thing that I’m going to do as soon as we solve this case.

“I had another on of my dreams. My spirit guide just up and disappeared near the end.” I proceeded to explain to her what Gene had told me about the cave. It was a bit confusing, but it was far from the weirdest shit that Gene had showed me. That had to be that time I was on a mission in Scotland. The first time that I’d seen him.

“So, you saw womb cycling. Interesting.” She looked thoughtful, folding her arms in front of herself. “I myself have seen that occur, but only around shrines and temples. The dark tunnel is supposed to replicate the feeling of being in your mother’s womb. And when you exit the cave, it is as if you’re being reborn into a whole new life. But I don’t understand why Nao would be doing that.”

Before I could respond, the door slid open without much warning to reveal none other than Yasu. I let out a sigh of relief and turned to look at him. “Yasu! I’m glad you got my message.” He smiled gently at me.

“Hi guys!” Yasu called cheerfully, shifting his backpack on his shoulder.

Monk popped his head in past Yasu and grinned at me. “It was a good idea to call in Yasu, Karma.” Then he turned to grin at Yasu. “Hey man! I’ve got something to show you!” And then he disappeared back through the sliding door and into the base.

“Geez, I’ve been here 5 seconds and I’m already being put to work.” He joked. “Well, I better go see what Monk wants…” he trailed off awkwardly, looking like he didn’t quite know what to do with himself.

“That’s a good idea. Monk’ll get you caught up on the case.” I sigh, heaving myself up and stretching, flicking out my tail so that it didn’t get a kink in it. “I’ll be in base after a quick shower,” I assure him, laughing softly at his transfixed look on my extra appendage. He blushed at being caught and quickly ducked out of the room, both my laughter and Masako’s following him out.

* * *

[Day 3]

The first thing that we did after meeting up at the base was play back the footage from yesterday. I still hadn’t had a chance to watch it due to my injuries, and Yasu was still busy looking over both my notebook and Naru’s to see if there was something that we had both missed. I hobbled over to the computers, leaning over as I saw something weird with the audio.

“Hey! Is it just me or does this sound like…” I trail off as I turn up the volume, wincing at the loud roaring sound that filled the room. I resisted the urge to clap my hands over my ears as I carefully watched the others reaction.

John’s eyes widened comically as he stared at the audio recording. “Woah! It sounds like a dinosaur!” It really did, and that was confusing as shit. I played around with the audio some more, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound, when suddenly a sharp ringing echoes through the air – something had set the fire alarm off. And from my angle, I had the perfect view through the window in the base to see smoke rising from the main building.

Seeing my pointed stare out the window, the others were quick to notice and move towards the hallways. Cursing and knowing full well that I would regret this later, I sucked it up and bolted out of the room after them. Rushing through the hallway, I ripped the fire extinguisher off the wall. “Are there any more fire extinguishers here?” I bark as I toss the fire extinguisher to Monk as he passed. He grabs it and continues running towards the fire without even breaking his stride.

I turn to look at Hiroe as she handed me another fire extinguisher. Hiroe nods, looking very frazzled. “y-yes, I’ll get them.” She turns in the other direction and moves to go and get the other fire extinguishers.

I move to run towards the fire when suddenly I remember; “Naru!” Shit, he is still in the base and smoke is beginning to fill up the hallways – let alone the danger of someone attacking him while he’s defenseless. “Lin! Head back to the base, now!” I yell, as I pass him on my own way to base. He seems to have come to the same realization as me as he doesn’t argue and quickly bolts back to base. I toss my fire extinguisher to Ayako and follow the taller man. “Ayako! Help the others with the fire extinguishers.

She protested, but I wasn’t paying too much attention. Instead, I was extending my senses back towards the base and not liking the sounds that I was hearing. There was the sound of canvas tearing and harsh growls – one of the possessed family members had made his way into the base that we’d foolishly left undefended while rushing to try and stop that fire. The family member had probably set the fire as a distraction. Fuck!

I made it back to base only a couple seconds after Lin, and it was to see a rather horrifying sight. There was Kazuyasu, stabbing the doors in which we’d hidden Naru behind, and frothing at the mouth as he did so. If I were to imagine a stereotypical possession, this would be it. He was slashing at the canvas doors, stopping every now and then to pull at the door to test if it would open. Lin had locked it however, so it wouldn’t be opening any time soon. His hacking away at the door was proving to be haphazard at best.

“Stop it! If you open that door you will die. I guarantee it.” Lin warned the growling man. Then he turned to me. “Try using the nine cuts on him, if I do it, then I’ll just end up killing him. We can’t risk getting too close to him right now with you so weakened and that broken leg of yours.” He said sternly. We still didn’t know what effect that performing the nine cuts on someone would do, but Lin was right. I could overpower him, but I would run the risk of both getting caught by the flailing blade as well as injuring my broken leg further. I shouldn’t even really be standing on it right now, so I didn’t want to risk having to spend another day of rest. “That thin wall isn’t going to hold much longer, and if Naru wakes up it’s over.”

I leaned forwards slightly, balancing my weight on my good leg before proceeding to perform the nine cuts. “Rin, pyo, toh, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen!” Kazuyasu flies across the room and away from the canvas doors. The nine cuts were effective, but Lin went in for the (metaphorical) kill by whistling and causing his shiki to lash out. A clawed hand formed and slashed at Kazuyasu’s arms through the ruined door, and this shocked the possessed man enough for him to get up and bolt towards the door. Lin was standing in _just_ the wrong spot, and he slashed Rin’s arm with the knife that he was still clutching.

Kazuyasu proceeded to jump out a fucking window, and Lin was quick to follow him, although much more carefully. I didn’t waste any time in running to the area where the others had just finished putting out the fire.

“He did what? John, Karma! Quickly!” Monk yelled as we ran out the doors on our way to follow Kazuyasu and Lin.

“Ayako! Masako! Cover the base!” I yelled over my shoulder, pushing my broken leg in order to keep pace with Monk and John. I dare not go any faster; the leg might have healed somewhat, but it was still tender, and it was taking a pounding today.

We found Lin standing 20 feet away from Kazuyasu, looking much worse for wear. They were at the edge of the cliff, Kazuyasu hiding behind the hedge that stopped people from going off the cliff. Kazuyasu was panting slightly, as he glared angrily over the edges of the bushes. Lin’s white shirt was bloody and sliced in many places – from the glass in the windows or from Kazuyasu, I don’t know.

“Takigawa! Be careful, he’s been using whirlwind sickles.” Lin called in warning as we came to a stop a couple feet behind him. Abruptly, I feel a phantom hand push my back and my vision goes white for a brief moment as I damn near collapse to the ground. Suddenly I’m not myself – suddenly, I’m Nao and I’ve just been pushed off of this cliff. I see everything that she saw, and in those last moments before ~~I~~ Nao went off the cliff, I was able to see Kazuyasu standing above ~~me~~ Nao and smiling with that awful snarl.

A heartbeat and then I’m back.

“You did it.” I gasp, pushing myself up to a semi-standing position, my leg giving out under me as I did so. “You pushed Nao off the cliff, didn’t you, Kazuyasu. You’re the one who killed the dogs and tampered with the car, now just admit it!”

“Who the hell are you in there?” Monk demanded, moving forwards to stand beside Lin while John took a step back and subtly shielded my body with his own. I appreciate the gesture, seeing as right now my leg wasn’t supporting my weight. “Why are you tormenting this family?” The thing behind the hedge hissed again, its eyes widening and sharpening. A blade shaped wave of power flew through the air, slicing Monk’s shoulder. “Tell me, who are you? And why are you trying to release Naru? What’s your purpose for being here?”

It stood up then, the hulking figure that was Kazuyasu looking slightly contorted as he snarled at us with _“To kill. Death to everyone!”_ it snarled, grinning sadistically. Then he turned around and jumped off the cliff before any of us could move.

As soon as I heard the crunch, I knew that he was gone.

* * *

“That’s awful,” Yasu murmured as he sat in the base with us, picking away at a bowl of rice. I was glad that we’d brought some food with us, as well as some cooking utensils, because let me tell you, I didn’t want to have to confront the family after yet another one of their family members was killed in an accident that we weren’t able to prevent. It was a good idea to eat in. (Especially since they fell off the cliff and died while I fell off and got off with what they thought was only a serious sprain.) “But we can’t let it get us down. If we leave here with our legs between our legs, then the lives that have been lost and the effort that has been put in would have been for nothing.”

I sigh heavily, it was nice, what Yasu was trying to say, but that didn’t make the frustration any less apparent. Having this much trouble on any case was unusual to me. Naru was always just one step ahead, and my cases were either all human, or demonic in nature. This one just wasn’t and that was kind of frustrating. “You’re right,” I cave. The others have to at least feel like we need to continue. I won’t be able to solve this case on my own; as much as I loath to admit it.

Ever since joining SPR, my ego has taken a real big hit.

Yasu nods. “Now if I can just find my notes, I can tell you what I found.” He murmurs, rummaging around in his backpack and emerging triumphant with a file folder. “I’ll get right to the point, the problem isn’t with the Yoshimi family, but with the location.” He admits as he hands me the file. I reached over the leg that I had propped up and iced (on Ayako’s orders) and began to flip through Yasu’s impeccably kept research.

“You mean the actual ground that the house is built on?” I raise an eyebrow.

Yasu nods. “The land used to belong to the Fujisako family,” he explained. “But around 150 years ago, near the end of the Edo period, the family died after. Soon after, the Yoshimi family bough the property, but they died off too after 4 generations. The current Yoshimi family is another branch on the tree, if you will, from the Kanazawa area.”

“That makes sense. And if explains why we were only able to find records for the last two heads of the family inside the temple.” I say, shuffling through the file and connecting what he said with the raw data that he’d given me.

“So moving on,” Yasu pulls out a large stack of paper covered in sticky notes and handwritten notes penned in the margins of the pages. “I found a story that could offer some clues. It’s commonly referred to as the legend of the Ijin Killing, ijin meaning someone from another place. Back then, they were closed communities. So in addition to being completely suspicious of any outsiders, if the strangers showed any signs of powers that impressed the villagers, they became an object of worship.”

“What kind of power would that take?” I question.

“In those days, outside of merchants, most of the travellers were heavily into religion, many of them practicing Shugenja. They would visit villages and pray that rain would come, and the harvest would be plentiful. Sometimes they even fought goblins or exorcise harmful spirits.”

“That’s almost exactly what we do.” Masako points out. 

Yasu laughed, “that’s right. In those days, you would have made fine, ijin. Although the customs have changed over the years, it’s been basically the same.”

“Some of the family members said that 32 years ago three spiritualists died here.” Monk cut it, “we can’t leave this place until we clean it up, so tell us what you know about this Ijin Killing legend.”

Yasu looked a little nervous, but he continued to present his little report anyways. “Oh… right… The Okobu you were told about is an integral part of the story.” Yasu began, pushing up his glasses slightly. “Long ago, there were three shugenju monks that came to the village. They immediately saw the Okobu and said it would bring about a curse to the village, so they performed an exorcism on it. The Okobu morphed into a gold statue of Buddha. The shugenju said only a curse on the statue itself could have caused it to end up in such a way. So, they offered to build a shrine for it in the village where it would be safe.”

“However, the village elder’s desire to own the statue himself, drove him to kill the monks. After that the Buddha statue turned back into drift wood.” Yasu continued, flipping through the pages upon pages of research that he’d printed off. “The elder’s family became plagued with misfortune and eventually died off. It was dubbed, the Monk’s Curse.”

“So three shugenju monks… maybe three rokubu.” Monk mumbled.

I tilt my head to the side, “rokubu?” I had never come across the term before.

“The pilgrims that traveled the each of the of 66 sacred spots and leave a copy of the holy sutra were called the sixty-six, or more commonly, the rokubu.” Monk explained, looking rather troubled by the information that Yasu was presenting. “Those three mounds that were found near the shrine… I wouldn’t be surprised if those were the graves of the three monks that were killed here.”

“Graves of the three rokubu…” I mumble, placing my hand on my chin. Now why did that sound familiar? “Hence the sonroku mounds!” There it was.

Yasu nods emphatically and spreads his pile of papers on the ground like a child trying to shuffle a deck of cards. “Yeah… just hold on a second, I have some folklore on rokubu mounds somewhere… Ah! Here it is!” he called triumphantly, holding a stack of stapled papers. “In 1862, there was a revolt from the peasants in the area that was ultimately suppressed. The villagers turned over the five peasants that instigated the revolt in exchange for their own lives, but the men escaped. When they were caught by the mob chasing them, they were beheaded on the spot.”

That was exactly like that first dream that I had. The one where I was running with Naru and Monk, Ayako, and Lin were all standing there. Even the appearance of the scythe coming towards us was explained. Wow.

“Soon after there were countless epidemics and strange events surrounding the village. It didn’t take long for word of a curse to spread. But after a temple was erected next to the Okobu mounds, the strange phenomena disappeared.” Yasu added on, his eyebrows furrowing with concern. This was shaping up to be a pretty major case.

Ayako, looked equally, if not more panicked by what Yasu was saying. “Hold on, next to the rokubu mounds is right here!” Ohhh, that’s why she was so panicked. Yeah, if this inn was what was left of the temple… then there was a pretty good reason to be worried.

Yasu looked down, adjusting his glasses and seemingly prepping himself to deliver more bad news. “There’s more. After the leaders of the revolt were beheaded, the villagers gave them a proper burial. But legend has it; if you disrespect the graves, strange growths will appear on your neck and your head will eventually fall off.”

Strange marks? That sounded like the bruises that were on Hazuki’s throat. And Hiroe had said that she thought that her father was trying to take her head off from beyond the grave. Damn – things were finally adding up, and it wasn’t looking good for any of us. “Those stones out at the cape. There wasn’t supposed to be six because those are the five graves of the revolt leaders.” I murmur, getting wide eyed looks from Monk and John. _Drowning in the sea would be merciful – not nearly as bad as someone chopping off your head, don’t you think. Or having the people you love betray your trust._ “One of them possessed the kids… Katsuki mentioned something like that before he threw me off the cliff.”

“Alright, what do you say to having a go at this?” Monk asked, standing up and stretching.

I raise an eyebrow, “tonight?” It was late, and while I wanted this to be over as soon as possible, my bones were hours away from being healed. Maybe 1 or 2 if I was lucky.

“So between the five with the revolt and the three monks, who do you think is the most likely culprit?” Monk continued, bulldozing over me and looking towards Yasu. I purse my lips and shift my leg. I don’t like being overlooked, and with my nerves on edge, now wasn’t the time to undermine the authority of a demon. It just didn’t end well for anyone – I was demon king class.

Yasu shook his head and glanced over at me. “Honestly? I don’t think we have enough clues to narrow it down for sure. Besides… is it really wise to try and confront this when our strongest members are down for the count right now? If we wait just a couple more hours… we can get some sleep and be ready for what comes.”

Monk shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. “We don’t have time to waste. As much as I believe that Karma is strong, this is a spiritual matter, and he can’t do spirit exorcisms. We’re just going to have to hit both of them at the same time–” He was cut off by the entire building shaking violently and loud thumps echoing through the walls. Something wasn’t happy and it was making itself known. It felt like a damn earthquake. Monk fell to the side as he was thrown by the shaking in the walls.

“Karma! The temperature is dropping rapidly!” Lin yelled, staring as all of monitors slowly began to black out with the error message printed across each screen. The lights flickered too, and then went out. Damn. Looks like I wasn’t getting my extra hour to heal. I quickly pop in two lemon candies and stand up – I needed to be ready with the others as soon as I possibly could. There was no time for me to heal anymore. We were under attack.

We all gathered in a clump, Lin standing up from his seat and joining us in our weird little circle. We had moved Yasu to the centre of the circle and then backed in so that everyone was facing outwards and we were protecting Yasu. Out of all of us, he was the only one who couldn’t defend himself.

A deep moaning began to echo around us, slowly but surely transforming into words in a different language. The sutra!

“I don’t know about you guys, but I believe the rokubu stones are behind this!” Monk said, crouching slightly and moving carefully towards the door. “I’m going to go see what I can find out. I want you guys to stay in the base and watch Karma and Yasu. John, you come with me.” John nodded and the two rushed out of the base into the dark hallways.

It did us little good to remain in base though, seeing as soon as the two left, the glass panes in the windows immediately began to rattle. “Do you guys hear that?” Yasu asked nervously. It was a redundant question, but this was a high stress situation, and Yasu was vulnerable. Anyone would be nervous in his situation.

The rattling stopped, leaving a single moment of silence before a hand descended from the top of the window and plastered itself onto the glass with a squelch. Within seconds, more hands joined it, followed by the rest of the body. Then they multiplied, and corpses were soon pressed against the glass from all angles. They slammed themselves against the glass violently, and it began to crack. “Shit!” I curse, reaching under the table and pulling out my sword, igniting it with blue fire and stepping up in front of everyone else.

I was just in time too, because the glass broke and then the reanimated corpses were flowing through the window, snarling and drooling as they lurched towards us. I sliced through them, working alongside Lin and Ayako as we did our best to hold them off. I tore the corpses apart, launching them back out the window as Ayako and Lin performed the nine cuts over and over. They were already dead, so there was nothing to worry about for hurting people. We wanted to do that.

I panted slightly as I cut down another 5 bodies, finally noticing that they weren’t exactly going after us – they were going after Naru. But did they want Naru, or to unleash the spirit currently residing in him? “They’re after Naru!” I yell, retreating to the point where I was standing in front of the doors. Once Masako and Yasu were behind Ayako and Lin (who were flanking me) I unleashed a wave of blue flame, making a small barrier. That’s when they began attacking us with whirlwind sickles from all directions.

There was nothing that we could do to stop those, and we were quickly getting pretty sliced up. Blood dotting the edges of torn clothes as the smell of sweat and fear permeated through the air. I could barely see past the scythe shaped waves of power, but my fire barrier was offering us a small moment of reprieve from the actual zombies. I could now see just how grotesque their figures were.

They were almost all drown victims, so the water had rotted away their flesh, while scraps of cloth remained on their figures along with small remains of scalp and hair. Combine that with the burns from my fire and the bleeding gashes from the nine cuts, and they made an awful image. However, it had nothing on the smell of them.

Have you ever smelt burning flesh? Well this is so much worse.


	24. File 7 - Part 4

[July]

[Day 3]

The onslaught of reanimated corpses just got worse and worse as did the whirlwind sickles. There was no way that we could hold out against all of them for much longer. Not even I could get rid of all of these without sustaining a lot of damage myself. The fact that there was no way to block the whirlwind sickles alone was fucking with my fighting style. There were simply too many.

But I had to try. Lin and Ayako were too overwhelmed with trying to hold our position. So I said, “fuck it,” and I launched myself over my fire barrier and sort of just went to town on fighting these disgusting things with force. I took out anything that got within 3 feet of the fire barrier, but there was a seemingly endless amount of zombies, and there was only so much that I could do.

Every now and then Ayako or Lin would send out the nine cuts and the corpses would be flung out the window. And, to be quite frank, that was the only thing that was stopping the corpses from piling up in the base. Just when I’d finish off a wave, another one would come like some fucked up real life version of Plants vs. Zombies.

Just as another wave was making its way through the window, a knife flew through the door, and planted itself into the window frame. “Oh kirikiri bazara bajiri hora manda manda un hatta,” Monk yelled as he barreled into the room. “On amirito dohanba un hatta, on biso hora darakari, shabezara hanjara un hatta, on asan magini un hatta, on shaugyarei makasan maen sowaka!” he bellowed, finishing the chant and causing all of the reanimated corpses to fall off the side of the house. “Heh,” he spat, “you bastards think you can get in now. Just try it!”

Monk didn’t look much better off than Ayako or Lin. In fact, he looked even more exhausted than the others. He was practically doubled over and running out of breath. “Where’s Father Brown?” Lin asked, he himself also out of breath.

“He’s getting Akifumi and the rest of them. They should be here in no time.” Monk panted, leaning heavily against the wall. “You’re going to need to put out your flames, Karma. They’ll be back anytime now, and we won’t be able to explain what’s happening to the Yoshimi family. I nodded and quickly extinguished the flames around the room and on my sword.

“I won’t be able to explain the burnt corpses past psychic ability.” I say, looking around at the corpses littering the floor. “Did those things show up down there too?”

Monk laughed cynically as he pulled the shutters over the ruined windows. “Show up? Yeah, that’s one way to say it. They’ve been attacked by a mob of drowned corpses. It’s like we’re in a zombie movie!” Monk said incredulously, turning to look over at us. The panic was beginning to hit everyone as we stood around the trashed room. Everyone was tired and bleeding, and we had to survive the night.

Wow, this did sound like a zombie movie cliché.

A scream echoed through the hallways and we whirled around to look through the doorway. “That sounds like Katsuki!” I yell, already beginning to stand up and move towards the door. Rushing around the corner I saw John and the Yoshimis that he’d managed to round up. They cowered behind him, the children crying softly.

“Whatever you do, don’t let those white things touch you!” John informs me from where he’s standing protectively in front of the Yoshimi family. He was just as cut up as the rest of us. Unfortunately, his warning came a fraction of a second too late, and before I could completely dodge it, one of the white things zipped past me and grazed my side. It felt like I had been shot. I hissed loudly and grabbed my side, Ayako instantly turning towards me with a look of concern on her face.

“Monk! Behind you!” I yelled, seeing Monk looking at me and completely unaware of the threat that loomed behind him. Monk didn’t have my reflexes, and he turned around just in time to watch the damn thing fly through his leg. He crumpled to the floor yelling in pain as he gripped his ankle. “Are you okay?”

He nodded, grimacing and shaking slightly as he struggled to put weight on it. “What does it look like? I’m going to be okay, but _man_ does it hurt.” He stood up, hunching over, but otherwise okay. “Now I’m just angry. Kyata hanjasa hadaya sowaka!” He yelled as he formed a seal with his hands. Just as he finished speaking, the white things turned a bright crimson red. “Now open the door!”

Without questioning it – we didn’t have time to question anything – I threw open the sliding door to the base, and with Ayako’s help, got all the family members and ourselves inside before slamming the door shut.

Monk almost immediately collapsed on the floor, and the Yoshimi family gathered in the corner of the room. They were shaking and hugging each other in panic and fear, but they weren’t my first priority right now. I hurried over to Yasu and Masako who were still huddled over by the doors in front of Naru. I dug under the chair beside them and pulled out a bag that I had stashed there. It was filled with some provisions and other supplies, but most importantly, it had some candle sticks.

Handing each of them a stick. I stood carefully in front of it and summoned some flame. If the family asked questions I would spew some shit about holy fire or something, but right now we didn’t have matches or lighters and we desperately needed for the humans in the room to be able to see. The window shutters had been closed, effectively cutting off about 85% of the moon light. “Karma, oh thank goodness you’re alright.” Yasu whispered as he accepted the candle.

I nodded, lifting my head and handing looking over at the terrified Yoshimi family and the SPR team. “It looks like everyone is accounted for.”

“I’m just going to lie here and take a nap. A cold floor has never felt so comfortable.” Monk groaned from his spot sprawled across the ground. 

Masako nods, carefully holding her candle and using it to light some others that she places around the room. “Now’s a good time to get some rest. I sense… that they won’t be back for some while.”

Monk groaned and rolled over, sighing heavily. “If I were to fall asleep, the barrier protecting us would collapse immediately.” Shit. That wasn’t good. Monk was only human, and he could only stay awake so long before his body couldn’t handle it anymore and he passed out.

“Is there anything I can do?” I asked.

He shook his head, mashing his forehead into the floor. “Not unless you can erect an impenetrable barrier.” Fair enough.

“Mine won’t work. I tried it earlier, and the most it did was buy us a second or two to catch our breaths. Those things can’t sense the danger from it and will die in droves. But some will get past and we can’t afford that.” I confirm.

Yasu kneels down beside me, clutching his candle close and looking just as terrified as the Yoshimi family. I suddenly remember that he had been witness to the earlier carnage, and he wasn’t yet used to the paranormal even being real. “What are we going to do now.”

I tilt my head towards him, leaning back against Naru’s door and listening to his steady breathing as I attempted to remain calm. “Well, first thing we need to do is survive until morning. Once the sun rises, things should quiet down.” I turn to look tiredly at Lin. “Is Naru okay? I cannot tell you how much we _really_ don’t need a fox spirit in an insanely powerful host right now.”

“He’s fine. Somehow, he didn’t wake up through that whole ordeal.” Lin confirmed, before suddenly turning to stare at the ceiling as Masako handed him a candle.

I cocked my head to the side tiredly. “What is it?”

“My shiki that were knocked away in the fight returned.”

Masako’s head shot up. “So those were your shiki.” Masako murmured, looking at Lin out of the corner of her eyes as she too kneeled beside me.

“Yes. Could you feel their presence?”

She nodded, focusing her gaze on her candle once more. The small girl shivered slightly at the slight chill that the room had taken on. “Yes. It’s all starting to make sense now,” she whispered, “it explains why the spirits in this house felt so empty and hollow. The reasons the spirits possessing Naru and the children felt so hollow and vacant is because they’re so different than the norm. They’re in the service of someone else and they don’t act on their own. They’re basically slaves with no free will, left to the bidding of their controller who exploits their deepest grudges and uses them as shiki. These are feeling so strong they prevent them from finding eternal rest.”

Who could be doing this? Whoever it was would have to be pretty powerful to control so many shiki – and high level shiki at that. Judging by Lin’s solemn face, he sees the connection too and is just as worried. We really need Naru here. I just know that he’s made a connection that we didn’t, and even if he hasn’t, he might have a different view on how we can solve this.

From where I’m standing, it’s looking more and more like that stupid drift wood is responsible for this.

I really don’t want to have to deal with a God.

I stood up slowly, grabbing another candle and lighting it with Yasu’s before making my way over to the crying Yoshimi family. Teruka and Yoko were gathered around the children, desperately trying to shush them as they sobbed in terror. I gently knelt down in front of them, holding out the candle as an offering. “Hey,” I whisper, grabbing their attention and causing them to look up at me with their teary eyes. “Don’t worry too much, okay? I promise that we’ll protect you. When the sun rises things will be better – you’ll see.” I say quietly, looking down at the three children and hoping that I didn’t look too scary.

I was covered in blood and zombie matter, not to mention the fact that my eyes were no doubt still wild from residual adrenaline, and then there’s the fact that my hair was slicked back a little and revealing my piercings and pointed ears. My torn shirt also revealed some scaring and tattoos. Overall, I’m sure I didn’t exactly look all that inviting – especially for a small child.

Almost as if on cue, Katsuki immediately burst into tears again. “I-I-I’m sor-rry!” he wailed softly, big crocodile tears beading up in his eyes and his upper lip trembling. “Please don’t be mad at me! I didn’t want to throw you off of a cliff.” Oh, so that’s why he was crying now. I smile, pulling up everything I remembered from Ikemen lesson’s with Isogai so that I could get to this kid. If his biggest issue right now was some misplaced guilt and not fear for his life, then I can work with that.

“Don’t worry about it Katsuki-chan. It wasn’t you that did it – it was that spirit. So you don’t have to feel bad. Besides, I’m not all that hurt! My leg is healing just fine.” Mentioning my injuries might not have been the best move considering Nao and Kazuyasu, but I was proving that he hadn’t hurt me. To the Yoshimi family, I must be incredibly lucky to have survived that fall considering the others died on contact. Maybe they believed in some divine intervention or something.

Katsuki’s tears slowed down slightly as he stared up at me in undisguised awe. You’re really not mad at me?” he whispers uncertain. I laugh softly and shake my head.

“Nah, kid. Now turn that frown upside down. Why don’t you get some sleep?”

* * *

[Day 4]

“I don’t think we’ll be able to hold them off,” Monk says grimly as he looks over at the sleeping forms of the Yoshimi family. “Lin, Karma, stay here with the rest. I need to take down the barrier.” He looks completely exhausted – we all were. My energy was sapped after using so much energy and only having a couple lemon candies to tide over my metabolism. We had all stayed awake (Ayako, Lin, Masako, and Yasu taking some 30-minute power naps here and there) so that we could be on alert in case Monk passed out and something got through. Monk must be dead on his feet by now. He certainly sounded like it. “If it goes much longer it will drain what’s left of my energy.”

He moved to leave the room, John quickly following after him. “Wait, where are you going?” I ask, getting to my feet and standing in the doorway.

Monk doesn’t even bother to turn around as he answers. “Where do you think? The Sonroku mounds. You heard the sutra being recited, right? We’re up against the three rokubu.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re taking advantage of the fact that spirits are attracted to the caves so that they can trap and enslave them shortly after death.” John adds.

“That has to be what happened with the peasants that were beheaded in the revolt, as well as the princess and her lover from the legend.” Monk adds, looking wholly convinced of his theory. Those were all spirits that I could now remember having dreams about, so I mean, it’s not implausible. I just don’t quite think that he’s thinking big enough. “If you think about it the rokubu have had access to all the spirits in the area for centuries.”

John shook his head, “just how many innocent souls?”

Monk’s gaze hardened. “There’s no other choice, we have to do this now.”

“I’ll do it.”

We all turned around to stare in stunned silence at Ayako. She almost never offered to do anything. “You guys need to catch up on your sleep. You’ve been awake all night; you’re practically staggering right now.” She was right, Monk and John were seriously swaying, and Monk was actually leaning against a wall. That barrier must have really drained him. Honestly, out of all of us, Ayako might just be in the best shape. But could she do it?

“No offence, Ayako, but this is _way_ out of your league.” Monk stormed over, summoning strength from his righteous fury. “Why don’t you volunteer after you’ve actually done something productive!”

Surprisingly Ayako does not rise to the bait and only responds calmly. “Look Takigawa, I’m only volunteering because I _know_ I can do it. You’re going to have to trust me, I _can_ do this.” She’s actually honestly confident; not her usual posturing. “Let me handle this one.”

Her determination and earnest expression surprised Monk enough that he actually didn’t offer up any protest. I however, did. 

“I don’t know guys. I don’t think that it’s the rokubu.” I admit quietly so that only the SPR team can hear. “That yebisu is bothering me. I’m thinking that the rokubu are also shiki. I don’t think we’re really dealing with spirits here. Those zombies… that takes a lot of power. There’s no way a spirit alone is that powerful; maybe not even three. I think that we’re dealing with something… more.” The others look at me with wide eyes as if they hadn’t even contemplated that possibility.

“Can any of us even take on… a god?” Masako asked softly, looking around the room with wide eyes. I pursed my lips. I don’t know if I can do it, but Satan must have done it at some point right? If it comes down to it, I might be our only option. Especially if Naru is still possessed. He might be the only other one who can.

“What’s a God to a nonbeliever?” I quip tiredly. I sigh heavily before looking over at the others. “I don’t think that it’s the rokubu doing this, but we do need to get rid of those spirits if we want to stand a fighting chance at getting the real thing behind this. If I’m wrong, then we’ll be done, if I’m not… well… there’s only so much we can do.” I informed the others. “Ayako, if you think you can do this, then don’t hold back.”

Ayako’s eyes narrowed with determination and she nodded sharply. “I _know_ I can do this. You can trust me.”

The ‘ _we’ll see’_ went without saying.

* * *

“There aren’t many places like this left in the world. I can sense a strong energy from the past here.” Ayako explained as we walked over to the Sonroku mounds. She was in her Shinto priestess get-up, while Monk, John and I had simply changed into less bloody clothes. “The trees are really alive. When I was young, we had a gigantic camphor tree in front of my parent’s house. It was absolutely gorgeous.”

We stopped by the tree line just in front of the mounds and Ayako quickly began to prepare her ritual as she continued her story. “It taught me a lot of things that I keep with me today. It would always tell me when the patients from my parent’s hospital were going to die. But whenever I would tell my parents about these prophecies, they would scold me.”

She poured some substance from a bottle that she’d brought with her onto the earth. It was watered down sake and smelled surprisingly clean and fresh for alcohol. She held up a small branch that she’d taken from a tree nearby and tied a small bell to it. “To be honest, when you get down to it, I really don’t have all that much power of my own. However, I am still a priestess.” She walks over to the mounds and gently plants the stick in the ground before kneeling in front of it.

“I stand here today to beseech the gods. I call upon them to descend from the heavens and join us where no gods dwell to end this ceaseless suffering. I ask that my humble plea may be heard, and peace be restored unto the spirits that are trapped here.”

She’s reciting the same prayer that she always does, but for some reason, this one feels different. “May this grove reflect the high heavenly plane and may the gods from all corners come together as one.” It almost feels like… the air is getting cleaner. “Rin, pyo, toh, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen.” Almost as if beckoned by her prayer, spirits began to solidify in the air and float towards Ayako and her little tree branch. The closer that they got, the more they dissolved almost and turned back into what I can only think looks like a cloud of steam (like in a sauna). They floated into the branch, and with every chime of the little bell, a spirit evaporated.

Once the bright white spirits disappeared, Ayako calmly formed a hand seal and breathed deeply. A second later, other things began to appear – dark apparitions turning into solid waterlogged corpses. She was calling the zombies that had attacked us. I flinch backwards subconsciously, steadied by John as he too took a slight step back.

Ayako gently bent down and picked up the belled branch before standing and turning to face the mob that had surrounded us. “Come, the time for you to achieve eternal sleep has finally arrived.” The thing’s eyes widened and then they moved to lunge towards us. But as she moved her branch this way and that, the bell rung, and with every ring of the bell, more spirits simply vanished. Is it possible that all these spirits are coming here because they _want_ to be purified?

Ayako was focused almost entirely on the spirits in front of her – and so was I for that matter – that she almost missed what was happening behind her. “Ayako! Behind you,” I bark, and she turns around calmly to look back at the mounds. A black glob of spirit was slowly crawling out from the top of the rock, but Ayako was able to quickly dismiss them with a ring of the bell. As the things vanished, a strange light came from the centre of the stone, and then the great boulders cracked vertically in two places.

Ayako let out a slow measured breath and then planted the small branch in front of the graves once more. Clapping her hands together one final time, the small bell and cord fell from the branch and rang one last time as it hit the earth.

“Well now,” Monk said stunned, “she didn’t need us after all. If you’ve had that kind of power all along, why did you keep it hidden all this time?”

Ayako grinned ruefully as she turned back to face us. “I’ve never hidden it from anyone. Like I said, I only use it when I know it will work. I don’t normally bring it up because it sounds like I’m making excuses.” She shrugs, her aura surprisingly serene in this moment.

Monk’s face is slightly awed, and I hide a small grin behind my hand. I had a feeling that Monk had a thing for competent people, and up to this point had been suppressing his feelings for the priestess under some misguided idea that she was useless. He’d been decently vocal about it on this case at the very least. “We’d never do that.” He says, but there isn’t much conviction in his tone, and I can tell that he knows this too.

“Up to this point there haven’t been any live trees. When I first began, you may have noticed some elder spirits, many with long beards, emerging from the trees. They are basically the spirits of the trees, and I borrow their power.” Ayako laughed, continuing to explain how her power worked, her eyes flickering form mine to Monk’s. “If the tree’s lost its spirit, then it’s as good as dead. My rituals don’t even need to be done near a shrine – many shrines and temples in the city are in poor shape as they get older. But with the trees, no matter what their age they are always the same.”

“So I guess that it helped that the mounds happened to be next to a grove, but what it they weren’t?” Monk asked sincerely, his eyes soft and wide with curiosity. “How would you have gone about it then?”

“As long as they’re somewhere nearby, I can summon the spirits to wherever they need to be.”

I frown, crossing my arms. “Wait… if it’s that easy to do, then why didn’t you do that when we were exorcising Ichirou?”

Ayako smiles, scratching the side of her head in a decidedly Monk-like gesture. “My ritual has no effect on human beings – I’m really only capable of purifying a spirit. Besides, once I utilize a tree, I have to let it rest for a period of 6 months before I can use it again. So if I had tried to use them on Ichirou, I wouldn’t have been able to utilize them when we needed them most.” I nodded approvingly at her. I would have preferred to know that this was an option so that I could plan accordingly, but at least Ayako thought ahead and didn’t rush into things like the SPR irregulars normally like to do.

“So I guess that settles everything then.” John said, looking a wee bit relieved at how easy the case was seemingly solved. But we’re not done yet. 

“Not quite.” Ayako says, pursing her lips and looking up at the large trees. “Remember I only do spirits. There is another presence here, something worse.” I carefully watched her reactions – she felt the same thing that I did. “Earlier I sensed a presence that wouldn’t come near me during the ritual. If that power had been a spirit, it would have wanted to be purified, but it was repelled. I believe there is another entity out there that we have yet to deal with. It is very powerful, and it has been using the Yoshimi family as its shiki.”

Fuck. “So it wasn’t the spirits of the rokubu.” Monk murmured, looking apprehensive.

Ayako shook her head solemnly, her serene smile slipping from her face. “No, I believe they were being used as shiki as well, just like Karma said.

“Come to think of it, Nao did say something about a monster.” I mumble, my eyes subconsciously beginning to slide over towards the direction of the cave and its own small shrine. “If it’s capable of using so many spirits then it has to be something incredibly powerful. Which means that… there’s only one thing that it could be.” I say a little louder.

John looks down, his eyes filling with concern and worry. “The Okobu… isn’t it.”

“The piece of driftwood that washed up in the cave, it was shaped like a statue of Buddha, so they enclosed it in a shrine built in its honour. That makes it a true yebisu – which means that we’re going to have to take on a god.” Monk said grimly.

I sigh heavily and tilt my head up to bask in the sun slightly. “Well this isn’t going to be fun. Let’s head back to base to regroup.” If Naru isn’t up yet, then we’re going to need to find a way for him to get up.

We’ll need him to end this.

* * *

“Hey we’re back,” Monk said tiredly as he slid open the door to the base and the rest of us slowly filed in. The exhaustion was really beginning to hit now, but we had to power through. The god was still here, and it was still very angry.

Monk froze almost as soon as he got into base, causing me to run into him – my reaction time being dulled by exhaustion. “Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask as I grab my nose out of reflex. I turn to look where he was staring and raise an eyebrow in surprise. There was Naru, sitting on the floor and reading through all the notes that Yasu was providing him. Including my own notebook and the detailed notes I’d made in the small hours of the morning.

“You know it wouldn’t hurt for you to say ‘thank you’,” Ayako grumbled as she walked past us and began to remove the outer layers of her robe, revealing her clothing to be in an equal state of distress to our own. “After all, I had to put aside my many resentments towards you to save you.” We could all hear the joking tone in her voice, and Masako even smiled softly up at the older woman.

“It’s so good to see you awake Kazuya.” John added in like a lost puppy finding its owner.

Naru simply turned away and continued reading from my notebook without another word. Yasu popped up from behind us, smiling sheepishly. “He’s in kind of a bad mood,” he whispered, causing Ayako to turn away and continue her grumbling. “He just read the part of Lin’s report where he detailed how Karma got thrown off a cliff.” I scowled at him and lightly smacked his arm. So what if I was a little transparent with who I had a crush on – that didn’t mean that everyone here had to continuously mock me!

Monk coughed awkwardly and began to speak, almost reporting. It was kind of funny. “It’s looking more and more like the spirits of the rokubu weren’t responsible for this case.”

“It’s the Okobu.” Naru declared abruptly. “Karma figured that out almost a day ago, but it’s plain to see that our brains work differently than yours. You should have listened.” He scolded slightly, flipping through the pages of the notebook again. My scowl deepened, but Naru just continued, unaffected. “Consider the shrine; behind it is the cave by the sea with another shrine inside it. There you can find a yebisu named Okobu. There is a path from the cave to the shrine that’s carved out of the natural sea wall with steps made of stone. Now why were those constructed; there is obviously some meaning behind it.”

“It’s the divine figure in the shrine – its presence meant they had no choice but to build it.” I finish, taking over his explanation, “there’s no way they would have gone that far if it was for some minor god. What’s enshrined in that cave is a god with enough power to influence people to do its bidding.” Naru nodded in approval and began digging through the piles of Yasu’s research.

“According to some of the folklore in this village, cyclones and tsunamis disappeared after the Okobu was worshipped. However, if the people neglected to worship the Okobu, calamity would soon strike the village. The shrine in which the Okobu was meant to be worshipped is now cut of from the smaller shrine in the cave. The house is what caused the separation.” He explained, his voice not once holding an inflection of emotion as he delivered his idea on how everything happened – just like on almost every other case. It was his little pre-taking-care-of-the-thing routine. “It was probably part of the shrine when it was first built. The land where the iwai lived was sold off in lots when the revolt leaders were beheaded – that seems to be the most likely scenario.”

“Soon after that the land was sold and reused for private housing. It is the Okobu’s belief that anyone who lives on that land must worship it as their one and only god. So when the unaware tenants moved in and neglected to worship it, they were cursed.”

The others had all sat down about hallway through Naru’s explanation, and Monk looked almost like he was pouting. The jab about us thinking differently probably still playing a role in that. I move to take control of the situation, hopefully placating the people that had fought by my side for the last twelve hours. Naru coming in and being all bossy probably wasn’t doing anything good for their nerves right now. “We now have to perform an exorcism on the Okobu, and for that we’ll need you Naru.”

“Wait, but is that really necessary? It just needs to be worshipped right?” Monk asked confused, his posture relaxing at the return of my command on this situation.

I shake my head, side eyeing Naru who was watching us with a careful look in his gaze. “Yes, but if the worship stops, then the curse returns.”

“This might only be a yebisu, but it’s still a god – that’s a lot worse than a monster.” Monk protests. “You’re powerful Karma, but do you have the ability to take this thing on?”

I purse my lips and look back at Naru. “I don’t know if I do, but I’m willing to give it a shot. There’s a reason that Satan’s flames are so revered and feared. God-killer, or so people claim. However, I don’t know if mine will be enough.” I admit. “That’s why I think we’ll need you, Naru. I’ve never felt power quite like yours, and with the both of us, it should be enough.” Lin had clearly told him about me revealing my powers to the others if he hadn’t already figured it out from my notes on the cliff incident and the subsequent night of terror from fucking zombies.

Naru smirked almost evilly, “Don’t get me wrong, I had a wonderful time being possessed, but it would be downright rude of me to not return the favour.”

Lin sat up, looking over at Naru and me in alarm. “His powers are dangerous and self-destructive. You saw what happened last time he lost control, what are you two planning?”

My own bloodthirsty smirk tightens ever so slightly. “I don’t know if it will work… but there was a point in Naru’s life when he _could_ use his powers safely. I think… no, I know I have the ability to help him. The question is, if we’re compatible enough for it to work.” I say quietly looking down to avoid Naru’s gaze. I had seen his notes earlier on the similarity between mine and Gene’s powers, and I was confident that I’d be able to help bounce his PK.

Lin’s eyes widened slightly as he glanced back over at Naru. I could feel Naru’s gaze settling on the side of my head. “Well, there’s only one way to find out.” 

* * *

“Let’s begin.”

Monk and John were standing in their various uniforms to take a stab at the god before we resorted to my power, and finally, Naru’s own. If one of us could take it out before Naru had to try, that would be for the best. I am confident that I can bounce his PK, but how well I can, remains to be seen. I don’t want to be taking any chances here – this thing was dangerous.

Monk was up first, standing in front of the shrine and beginning his chant complete with various hand seals. “On habahaba kiuta sabtaruma sabasa kitsudo kan. On data gato nau bebaya sowaka, on bata mar inau habaya sowaka. On bazara gini harachi hataya sowaka.” He chants rapidly, focusing all of his remaining energy on the piece of driftwood in front of him. As he continued to speak, the cave seemed to come alive with sound.

There was an audible heartbeat echoing around the walls of the cave, and soon after a deep rasping breath began to echo too. I lightly touch the wall, feeling it pulsate along with the heartbeat sound. The rock was even warm to the touch. It’s almost like the cave itself is breathing!

Yasu suddenly jumps back in alarm, looking at the entrance of the cave. “Takigawa look! The entrance is closing.” And that statement was true too. The rock at the entrance was warping and seemingly growing until it covered the entire entrance, thrusting us all into the darkness. The only light source, being a slight glow from the yebisu, and the reflection of my eyes in the corner.

“Don’t worry! It’ll open back up when we terminate the source,” Naru barked, crossing his arms and standing his ground. The breathing intensified, sounding like that of a heavy smoker.

Ayako fell to her knees, clutching her ears and looking traumatized. “I can’t take this. Please make it stop!” she whispered, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Masako was much the same, and the two women huddled against each other for the illusion of protection.

From a corner of the cave, a white glow began to form. Deformed souls crawling out of the light and shrieking as they burst through like water from a dam and flew around the room. John frantically opened his bible and began to join Monk’s efforts. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word it was God.” The spirits looked like white flesh stretched over a balloon with rips and tears to make eyes. It’s melting flesh wailing as it twisted and contorted itself into different shapes. Dozens of heads wiggling from one central point. “He was with God in the beginning, through him all things were made. Without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life, was the life of man.”

As soon as he finished, the things vanished, taking with them their slight source of light. But the cave was quick to retaliate once more, and instead of a single source, the cartoonish heads began to form one by one all around the walls. They oozed and melted like deflated balloons as they struggled out of the wall, launching themselves towards us with reckless abandon. Lin’s shrill whistle broke through the air and dispelled them before any could hit us, and Ayako and Masako were quick to aid. Ayako with her nine cuts and Masako chanting a simple protective sutra.

But the cave wasn’t giving up, and for every spirit we dispelled, another took its place. “There’s too many of them! Every time we hit one another spawns.” Ayako gasps, panting harshly with fatigue.

I join in, adding my own cuts to the mixture of pantheon chants. “We can’t stop now!” The spirits all begin to turn a bright red, the ambient glow they produce, dousing the room in the violent colour as Monk neared the end of his sutra, violently stabbing the Okobu with his ceremonial dagger. As soon as he did so, a white light filled the room, tossing Monk into the wall of the cave and simultaneously dispelling the things in the walls.

Monk yelped in pain as his head came into contact with the wall. That had to have resulted in a concussion; ouch. “John,” he gasped, “the mantra! Destroy the yebisu!” John nodded and ran towards the yebisu, managing to pull out the knife and raise it for another stab before another wave of white light through him into another cave wall. Even Yasu made a valiant attempt at stabbing the thing but he too was thrown back. “We’re sorry, Naru. But we can’t do it.” Monk gasped, leaning heavily against Ayako, his exhaustion finally catching up with him.

After making sure that Yasu was okay (enough) I stood up, slowly approaching the Okobu and feeling the resistance from the thing. It could sense that I was dangerous. Without further prompting, I drew Kurikara and reached deep into myself to pull on my flames, setting the shrine ablaze with just a thought.

The cave wailed.

Not just those pained whimpers that were barely audible from before, no, this was different. This was the sound of someone – some _thing_ burning to death. And just like anything else that had been cornered and knew that it was going to die, it lashed out. I would have fallen, had it not been for Naru catching me around my shoulder.

“Do you think you’re strong enough to… try bouncing PK?” He asked me seriously, only hesitating slightly before mentioning the technique that I wanted to try. I could tell that he wanted to glance over at the others, but he was willing enough to use his powers, so that was enough for me. He knew that the others had been okay with my secret – maybe that would encourage him to reveal his own, although I wouldn’t blame him if he simply never did.

“Yeah. I think I can,” I say as I stand up on my own, sheathing Kurikara, but leaving the flames to continue to burn the shrine. I also kept my own horn-like flames and allowed my tail free reign. I wouldn’t be able to focus on not bursting into flames if I was going to try and do this. Besides, Naru’s PK was on another level, and I needed to be able to be strong enough to handle it so that Naru didn’t get hurt.

He nodded once with finality and then moved to stand a foot or two away so that we were facing each other with the shrine ‘in between’ us. Slowly but surely, his body began to glow, the bright white glow rising in intensity until it matched my own blue light. His was volatile – not unlike my own – and I could see the sparks beginning to fly from him. His aura pulsed wildly as he slowly formed a small glowing ball in his hands and threw it towards me.

I caught it and added a little bit of my own power to it. It wasn’t exactly white, but neither was it the intense blue of the flames. I threw the slightly bigger and bluish ball back at him, and then the cycle repeated. Soon, we had something nearing in size to a large fitness ball. The white glow of Naru’s aura oozed upwards like gravity was reversed and he was soaked in it, his eyes shone a bright white my own flashing gold in response. I carefully watched his form for any signs of fatigue or danger, but he looked completely relaxed; nothing like any of the times I’d seen him use his PK before.

He moved through katas with ease while I did my best to imitate them. His aura almost felt gleeful; excited even. It was… invigorating, and my flames rose in response to his emotions. I threw back the ball one last time, adding just a little bit more of my demonic powers and he raised it above his head, the ball crackling with purple lightning. For a frightening moment, I thought that it was too much, and then he threw it towards the shrine with as much force as he was capable of.

There was an enormous pressure, and then a large cloud of smoke. Once it cleared, I was able to see that there was no longer a yebisu sitting in the shrine. The rocks that were blocking the entrance were gone too. It looks like we’d actually done it! We’d gotten rid of a _god_.

Masako looked around sharply from where she was helping Yasu stand. “It’s gone!” she said, stunned. “The presence is gone. This is no longer sacred ground. The other spirits have moved on as well.”

Naru nods sharply at her before nodding at the mouth of the cave. “Let’s go.”

We all make our way out of the caves and begin the trek back to the Yoshimi Inn, Monk being supported by John and Lin, while the two girls help Yasu. Naru and I hung back slightly, walking at a leisurely pace as I questioned him. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? I don’t know if I did that right, you could be in a pretty critical condition.” I ask, looking up at his face and making sure that he wasn’t too pale. Despite what I suspected, he didn’t look bad at all. In fact, he had a healthy flush to him – he looked even better than he did just an hour earlier.

“I feel fine, Karma. There isn’t even any extra energy buildup – you took most of it.” He informed me, looking down slightly, a small bit of amusement in his eyes. “You did very well. Consider me officially impressed.” The small teenage girl in me began jumping around and squealing. Naru was a tough crowd to please, and I had just _impressed_ him. Holy shit.

I turned to look back at the others, still a little bit awed. “Holy shit, we took out a god.”

This actually get’s Naru to chuckle a bit. It wasn’t a full-fledged laugh, but it was the most that I’d ever heard him do in the year that I’d known him. Wow. I beam up at him for a moment, just taking in how _healthy_ he looked – which should not have been the outcome of this situation like, at all – when things inevitably took for the worst.

My vision began to blur and the strength just _left_ my knees. In a second, my eyes were rolling up into my head and I was falling. The last sensation I felt was strong arms holding me up so that I didn’t face plant and then a worried voice rang through the air.

“Karma!”

* * *

I woke up slowly, feeling like absolute shit. Wasn’t really all that much of a surprise since the last thing I remember is passing out on the rocky shore near the Yoshimi Inn after taking out a _god_. Of course, I was feeling like shit. I didn’t know how long I had been unconscious, but judging by how fucking hungry I was feeling, it had been longer than a couple hours. I wasn’t laying on a futon either – it felt more like a… couch? Yeah, a couch.

I extended my senses further, hearing breathing and quiet conversations in another room. Farther than that there were the sounds of the city. Maybe we were back in Shibuya. I work hard on prying my eyes open, determined to get up and get some food, but only succeeding in sitting about halfway up before I was pulled the rest of the way up and wrapped in a tight hug. By the time I’d pried my eyes open, the hug was over and Naru (oh my god Naru had hugged me) was holding me at arms’ length and looking over me carefully.

“Hey Naru!” I smile cheekily, “do you have any food? I’m starving.”

His left eyebrow twitches slightly, but he does sit me up against the back of the couch and hand over a bowl of what looks to lo mein. “Of course, the first thing you do upon waking up is think about food.” He grumbles, although he doesn’t look or sound annoyed – just fond. It was… weird.

I happily dig into my food and grin smugly up at him as I hug it close. It tasted fucking amazing; I’d have to get the place information from Naru later. Naru lets me eat for a couple minutes before softly beginning to speak, an unreadable look in his eyes. “Are you feeling okay?” he settles on asking after a moment of deliberation. He looks a bit constipated, but the question was sincere, so I’ll let it pass.

“Yeah, I think so. That food really hit the spot, where did you get it.” I ask, putting the now empty dish back on the table and leaning back with a satisfied sigh.

“Lin made it.” Well I wasn’t expecting that, but I was not in any way shape or form opposed. I was going to make him cook for me from now on; it was decided.

I sink back into the plush cushions of the couch – looking around to see that I was in the base back at the SPR building. The others were all sitting in Lin’s office, no doubt harassing him about something. I was actually surprised that they weren’t out here harassing us. “What happened? The last thing I remember is passing out.”

Naru gets this little pinched look on his face as he begins to tell me what happened. “You passed out due to fatigue. You expended too much energy while bouncing PK, and on top of your previous exhaustion and the fact that the day before you had literally been thrown off a cliff, a fall that had _killed two of the clients by the way,_ it was no wonder your body gave out on you. Ayako checked you over because we were reluctant to bring you to a hospital due to your physiology, and we determined that you’d only need a couple days of sleep. You’ve been asleep for approximately 3 and a half days. You could really use a shower.” He says helpfully, reaching forwards to grab a file and hand it to me.

“We ended the case and headed back here as soon as the funerals for Kazuyasu and Nao were over. The Yoshimi family sends their regards. I have been made aware by the others that they know about your heritage, and I’m… relieved to hear that they were supportive.” Naru says a bit awkwardly. He looks down for a moment before anger suddenly rises onto his face. “What you did was incredibly reckless; running a case, especially one such as this, with little to no experience with this part of the paranormal world. You got _thrown off a cliff_ , Karma. If you hadn’t had your advanced healing, then you would be _dead._ ” He scolds, his voice low and tense.

“And then you thought it would be a good idea to go running around the house and fighting reanimated corpses with a broken leg. Not to mention after getting no sleep and _not_ eating, you fought a god.” His entire body was tense really. It was a bit unsettling. I’d seen Naru angry, but he’d never been angry at me, not really angry. Not even when the ceiling and the floor collapsed on me at Yasu’s school. “You can’t keep doing this! You need to look out for yourself more.”

I raise an eyebrow and lean towards him. “I did what I thought was best. I’m a skilled exorcist Naru, I’ve lead teams before. We were _fine,_ no one else got injured.”

“And that’s exactly my point!” He says, hissing slightly but not raising his voice. “ _You_ got hurt, and that’s not okay!”

“So it’s okay if you get hurt?” I ask, “you think that we weren’t all incredibly worried when you got possessed. You were out of commission and very volatile for _days,_ Naru. We were terrified, and someone needed to take charge. I might have let Monk do it, but he would be ill equipped to deal with anything other than a spirit. He just doesn’t have the knowledge on leading that I do. He’s a good second in command, but he’s not ready yet.” I argue meeting Naru’s eyes with a determined look. “Besides, why do you care? We solved the case with as little casualties as we could, and I heal fast. It makes sense that I take the hits – it’s not recklessness, it’s a calculated move.”

He lets out a loud breath from his nose, clearly very frustrated, but for once at a loss for words. Then he does something that surprises me so much that I freeze. He lunges forwards and kisses me, wrapping his hands delicately around my neck and cheek. Luckily, instinct kicks in a second later and I’m kissing back before I realize that _holy shit Naru is kissing me._ He pulls away for a moment, resting his forehead against mine.

“I…” he trails off, closing his eyes and looking pained. “I don’t know how you’ve done it, but I care for you dammit. You’re so much like Gene, but so different. It’s like you complete me and that scares me. You can’t keep getting hurt – I don’t know what I’d do.” He admits quietly, shaking slightly as he opens himself up and leaves himself vulnerable.

I lean upwards and pull him in for another short kiss. “It’s alright. I’m not planning on leaving anytime soon, okay? I’m right here.” I murmur against his lips, savouring the feeling as his hands fall to pull me into another tight embrace. I hold him as he shakes slightly, before finally he composes himself. But he doesn’t let go of me. Not yet.

“I’m not letting you go. I hope you understand that.” He whispers, looking at me with his piercing gaze.

I roll my eyes and lightly punch his arm. “Love you too, Naru.” And then I waggle my eyebrows at him to cut the tension a bit. “You’re stuck with me now. There’s no backing out of this for you either – demons are possessive little shits.” He chuckles softly. I lean a bit into his side, content to just sit like this for now.

And then of course someone ruins the moment.

“Aww! Aren’t you two just adorable!”

I whirl around, jumping slightly as I see Yasu standing in the doorway of Lin’s office with the others watching from behind him with amused expressions. I blush furiously and curl up slightly. “There’s no need to be embarrassed Karma-chan!” Yasu grins, “Monk just owes me 5000 yen now.”

Monk squawks indignantly from behind him, pushing past the teen to walk into the central area of the office and taking a seat on one of the chairs around the coffee table. “I do not! Ayako’s the one who made that bet anyways.” He rolls his eyes before beaming at me. “Hey kiddo! How’ you feeling?”

I roll my shoulder lightly and shrug at Monk. “I’ve definitely been worse, but I’m doing okay.” I say. “Are you, Yasu, and John okay? You guys were thrown pretty hard into that wall.”

Monk laughs brightly as Ayako comes over and perches herself on the arm of his chair, Yasu and Masako mirroring their position while John takes a seat in the remaining chair. Lin stands in his doorway, still part of this scene but not getting too close. Typical Lin. “We’re doing fine, kiddo. John and I were released from the hospital a day or two ago, and Yasu was released just this morning. It’s about two in the afternoon now, we were just waiting for you to wake up.”

“Of course, Casanova over there, simply couldn’t wait for us and had to get in a word with you before we could.” Ayako laughs, smiling brightly at me. “Congratulations you two, I have to say, we all saw it coming.”

This time Naru joins me in rolling my eyes. “If I recall correctly, you didn’t wait until Monk was out of the hospital either.” Naru says snidely, startling a laugh out of everyone and a squawk from Ayako. He smirked smugly at the older woman as everyone laughed at her indignant expression and Ayako just played up her scowl.

_There’s a moment you know_

_You’re fucked_

_Not an inch more room_

_To self destru–_

I lunge forwards ripping my phone of the table and blushing furiously at the ringtone that I had. Nagisa had never let me forget that that was my alarm back in middle school, and he kept getting Ritsu to set it as a personalized ringtone for him. I hit the ‘answer’ button and bring the phone to my ear, blushing slightly as the snickers were now directed at me.

“Moshi moshi, Nagisa-chan! I just woke up, sorry for not checking in.” I say cheekily, grinning slightly as I answer the call. That smile however quickly slides down my face at Nagisa’s solemn response.

 _“We found him._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> There's still a couple typos but I will be working on that eventually


End file.
